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OLD  AGE  POVERTY  IN 
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Greenwich  House  Series  So.  6 

Old  Age  Poverty  in 
Greenwich  Village 

./    XEIGHBORHOOD    STIDY 


BY 


MABEL  LOUISE  NASSAU 


Introductton  by 
HENRY   R.  SEAGER 

Vioitaoj  of  Political  Economy,   Columbii  University 


Niw  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming    H.    Revell    Company 

L  ON  DON  AND  EDINBURGH 


Copyright,  igi5,  by 
FLEMING  H    KEVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  125  N.  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  St.,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:    100   Princes  Street 


5S5 


INTRODUCTION 


OLD  aRc  poverty  is  a  problem  of  prouinj;  scrioiis- 
nrsN    in    the    United    States.       I'rovidini:    tor    the 
aj.'n|   members  of   a   family  in   rural  communities 
involves  little  or  no  burden,   because  on  the  farm  or  in 
the  villa;:e  there  is  alua\s  work  that  such  persons  may 
•ill,  and  the  item  of  rent  is  ne^linible.     This  is  far  from 
the  case  in  cities.     As  years  ro  by,  cmplovers  arc  more 
atid   more   reluctant  to  take  on  employees  who  arc  past 
middle  life.      .Moreover,  the  reciuirements  of  modern  in- 
dustry have  become  so  exactinK  that  older  people  are  at 
an    increasing    disadvantage    in    competition    with    those 
who  have  the  {greater  quickness  and  adaptabilitv  of  youth. 
"(irown  old  at  forty  "  means  less  that  modern  industry 
so  s.ips  the  vitality  of  the  worker  that  he  must  be  dis- 
carded at  that  a^c  than  that  modern  methods  are  better 
served  by  younper  persons,     This  unfavorable  industrial 
situation  is  paralleled  by  the  ^'reatly  increased  expense  in 
cities  of   maintaininu  an   added   mendier  r.f   a   familv   in 
idleness.      Old   people  have   thus  come  to  be   a   burden 
upon  the  family  to  which  they  belong.     That  this  burden 
is^  usually  willingly  borne  should  not  blind  us  to  the  fact 
that  It  adds  not  a  little  to  the  difficulties  of  the  normal 
waKC-earning  fatnily  in  connection  with  meetinj;  the  ris- 
ing expenses  of  living. 

The  above  facts  are  familia.  to  social  students,  but  it 
remamed  for  Miss  Nassau  to  bring  together  convincing 
dlustrations  of  them  for  our  own  citv  of  New  York. 
Her  study  embraces  one  hundred  of  the  aged  neighbors 
whom  she  learned  to  know  as  a  resident  of  Creenwich 
House.  (Greenwich  \'illage  is  neither  better  nor  worse 
than  the  other  districts  of  New  \ork  in  which  wage- 
earners  predomin;.»e.  H  Miss  Nass.au's  description  is 
true  to  the  facts  for  this  part  of  New  ^ork.  it  may  be 
accepted  as  subrtantially  true  to  the  facts  for  the  city  at 
large. 


■"iTT 


6  INTRODLCTION 

Altlioufih  her  one  hundred  aj^ed  persons  were  selected 
at  random,  },'reat  care  was  taken  to  include  none  who 
were  not  obviou^ls  representative  of  larjjc  <^roups.  ]Jy 
classifvinji  her  examples  intcj  six  {groups,  the  author  suc- 
ceeds in  indicating  how  varied  is  the  problem. 

Alany  of  these  afied  perxjns  are  not  dependent  on 
charity,  or  likely  to  become  so.  Through  their  own  in- 
dustry, tliroufjh  contributions  of  their  families,  or  throujih 
pensions,  they  are  freed  from  material  anxieties.  It  is 
strikinj;,  however,  that  the  great  majority  of  these 
(ireenwich  House  reiKhbors  either  already  feel  the  pinch 
of  poverty,  or  else  are  haunted  by  the  fear  that  before 
lonti  they  may  be  brought  to  want.  That  sv)  many  lives 
should  be  embittered  by  fear  of  dependency  culminating 
in  life  "  on  the  Island  "  and  the  pauper's  grave  is  a 
serious  reflection  on  our  civilization. 

Miss  Naussau's  :.udy  is  not  an  argument  for  any  par- 
ticular plan  of  caring  for  the  ..ged  poor.  At  the  same 
time,  her  discussion  of  the  various  plans  that  have  been 
proposed  and  o*  their  merits  and  de..nerits  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  evid  ice  which  she  has  collected,  supplies 
convincing  proof  oi  the  need  of  some  broad,  constructive 
policy. 

Combining  the  interest  and  pathos  of  biography  with 
the  objectivity  of  a  social  investigation.  Miss  Nassau's 
book  is  to  be  commended  to  the  attention  of  all  those 
desirous  of  knowing  the  conditions  imder  which  one 
large  class  of  people  lives  in  New  "V'ork,  and  of  con- 
tributing toward  the  amelioration  of  those  conditions. 

Henry  R.  S eager. 

COI.UNUUA  UMVERSirv, 

.l/ljl'  14.  1915. 


CONTEXTS 


I.    Gr.NKRAi.  Aspects  of  the  Problem  .        .      h 
II.    Ac.Ei)  Ptoi'i.E  Who  Are  Sei.f-Sli-i'ortino     19 
III.    AciEi)    Peoim.e     Partly    Sei.k-Slim'orting 
AM)     Partly     Sli'I'orteu     hy     Their 

FANHLHiS 27 

IV'.    Aged    People    Slti-orted    Kxtirely    hy 

Their  Families 

\'.    Aged    People    Partly    Self-Supporting 

AND   Partly  Dependent  on  Charity 

\'I.    Aged     People     Supported     Partly     by 

Their       Families     and     Partly     by 

Charity 

\"II.     Aged    People    Wholly    Dependent    on 

Charity 

VI 11.    Causes  of  Dependenxy  of  the  Aged 
IX.    Difficulties  of  Saving  for  Old  Age 
X.    Effects   of    Dependency   of   the   Aged 
ON   Themselves,   on   Their  Families 

AND  ON  Society 

XI.    Dislike  of  Institutions    .... 
XII.    The  Need  of  Public  Provision  for  Aged 
People  in  America   . 


31 
36 

39 

42 
4<) 
58 

69 
81 


93 


f*^iif- 


PREFACE 


THE  fo^owing  studies  were  made  while  in  residence 
;it  Greenwich  House  Settlement  during  the  winter 
of     if)i.i-i4,    under    the    direction    of    Professor 
hicnr>-  R.   Scagcr. 

The  purpose  of  the  study  was  to  f^nd  out.  through  a 
small  mtensivc  study  of  individuals,  how  well  the  aged 
poor  are  provided  for,  by  their  own  efforts,  by  their 
fain. lies  and  by  existing  charitable  agencies,  and  to  see 
what  further  provision  is  needed. 

One  hundred  people  over  sixtv  vears  of  age.  living  in 
the  area  known  as  Greenwich  Village  (between  Four- 
teenth .and  Canal  Streets  and  lower  Fifth  Avenue  and 
West  Broadw.ay  to  the  Hudson  River),  near  or  under 
the  .ictual  poverty  line,  were  selected  f.r  special  inquiry 
and  for  as  accurate  delineation  as  possible. 

Obviously  one  hundred  people  do  not 'afford  a  basis 
tor  statistics  or  for  sweeping  general  observations,  but 
trom  such  a  group  individuals  can  be  chosen  that  are 
typical  of  Larger  groups.  The  classification  of  groups 
m  Chapters  II.-VH.  are  surely  broad  enough  to  include 
a  large  number  of  people,  and  the  cartfullv  selected  tvpes 
described  in  them  and  in  the  succeeding  chapters  arc  I 
am  convinced,  normal  and  representative. 

Since  it  seems  fair  to  believe  that  the  representative 
types  of  this  study  are  representative  of  the  old  people 
in  the  cm-  ai  large,  I  have  put  forth  the  conclusions  which 

^.--^    r"    '■""'  *''''"'  '"'^'^  '"^  S""^  ^^'-il  of  confidence. 

U  ith  the  genuine  desire  to  be  fair,  "  unworthy  "  as 
well  as  worthy  "  illustrations  are  given,  though  prob- 
ah  y  the  people  described,  as  a  whole  represent,  in  in- 
telligence and  morals,  a  higher  standard  than  might  be 
tound  in  some  other  more  crowded  districts,  or  in  dis- 
tricts iess  vxeil  supplied  with  churches  and  settlements 
or  in  a  regular  house-to-house  canvass. 

9 


t3»i*j^;...^; 


lo 


PRKFACE 


A  few  of  the  people  interviewed  were  met  on  the 
street,  or  sufijicstcd  by  neighbors,  but  most  of  the  names 
of  those  called  upon  were  given  by  organizations.  Ap- 
peals for  lists  of  names  were  made  in  person  to  the 
churches  of  all  denominations  in  the  di^.trict  (twelve 
churches  were  asked  to  co-operate),  to  the  settlements, 
to  the  A.  I.  C.  P,  and  to  the  C.  C).  S.,  to  a  day  nursery, 
to  a  milk  station,  to  one  of  the  district  visiting  nurses, 
to  a  hospital  and  to  a  dispensary,  to  three  men's  hotels, 
to  St.  Andrew's  coftee-stand,  to  the  Salvation  /,  'v,  etc. 
The  majority  responded  helpfully,  though  soi.ie  were 
able  to  give  only  two  to  five  iiames,  while  others  con- 
tributed ten  to  twenty  names.  Many  names  were  un- 
available because  out  of  the  district  limits,  or  under  the 
age  desired,  or  because  the  people  themselves  were  un- 
willing to  give  information,  or  were  out  working  when 
called  upon,  or  had  changed  addresses. 

At  first  I  did  not  reveal  the  real  purpose  of  the  in- 
vestigation, but  made  a  "  friendly  visit."  But  afterward 
I  was  advised  to  do  so,  because,  as  an  experienced  church 
visitor  said,  "  The  old  people  are  asking  what  you  are 
'  after  ';  they  guess  you  are  '  up  to  something.'  "  VV^hen 
I  did  state  my  purpose,  nearly  all  were  willing  to  help 
by  answering  questions,  sometimes  with  a  desire  to  help 
the  cause,  sometimes  (not  understanding  the  matter  at 
all  clearly)    with  the  hope  of  immediate  personal  gain. 

Unfortunately  a  number  of  women,  in  upper  and 
lower  Greenwich  Village,  had  been  interviewed  some 
tiine  before  by  someone  ''  who  asked  some  of  the  same 
questions  as  you,  but  she  was  from  Washington."  And, 
it  was  explained  further,  "  she  had  big  sealed  papers  and 
she  was  going  to  send  all  the  answers  back  to  Wash- 
ington, and  she  asked  for  twenty-five  cents  from  me  and 

from   Mrs.  and  Mrs.  for  postage,   and   we 

never  heard  anything  from  her  again."  This  person, 
evidentiv  a  "  fake,"  must  have  made  quite  a  little  sum 
for  herself,  and  it  needed  patient  explanations  to  show 
the  difference  of  the  investigation  I  was  conducting. 

Some  people,  with  no  faith  whatever  in  any  derinite 
results,  gave  information  as  a  personal  kindness.  A  plan 
to  start  a  "  grandmothers'  club  "  had  to  be  given  up,  as 


1 


^^^^4^ 


PREFACE 


II 


the  women  were  mostly  too  busy  working,  or  else  too 
infirm  to  come  to  the  settlement.  Some  people  were 
visited  only  once,  others  several  times,  and  the  informa- 
tion pained  in  interviews  was  eked  out  by  those  giving 
the  lists.  Some  of  the  organizations  allowed  their  names 
to  be  used  as  introductions,  but  sometimes  names  were 
given  with  the  distinct  understanding  that  the  visits 
were  to  appear  as  casual.  Some  organizations,  while 
showing  sympathy  with  the  investigation,  refused  to  give 
nam?s  or  were  unable  to  give  names.  Thus,  on  the 
whole,  interest  and  kindness  were  shown  everj-wherc  by 
organizations  and  by  the  people  themselves. 


■ 


I 


GENERAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

ONE  of  the  first  impressions  I  received  in  starting 
out  on  this  investigation  was,  that  the  aged  are 
not  a  problem  by  themselves.     The  aged  cannot 
be   considered   separately,    for   their   destinies   are    inter- 
woven inextricably  with  those  of  their  families,  and  with 
that  of  society  as  a  whole. 

In  calling  upon  the  aged  member  of  the  family,  the 
whole  family  history  was  unrolled ;— what  affected  the 
aged,  affected  the  middle-aged,  and  the  children,  so  that 
the  problem  assumed  far  wider  and  deeper  significance 
than  I  was  prepared  to  expect. 

The  whole  situation  seems  very  little  understood  by 
people  in  comfortable  circumstances.  Only  a  few  special 
students  of  economics,  philanthropists  and  social  workers 
appreciate  its  seriousness,  and  what  an  exceedingly  small 
proportion  of  society  they  compose! 

Important  books  have  been  written  on  the  subjects  of 
social  insurance  and  old  age  pensions.  Among  them, 
m  order  of  the  date  of  their  publication,  are:  i,  "  Pau- 
perism and  the  Endowment  of  Old  Age,"  by  Charles 
Booth  (1892);  2,  "State  Insurance,"  by  Frank  W. 
Lewis  (1909);  3,  "Social  Insurance,"  by  Henry  R 
^W",,(i9io);  4,  "  Workingmen's  Insurance  in 
Europe,"  by  Frankel  and  Dawson  (1910);  5,  "  Old- 
Aj^e  Dependency  in  the  United  States,"  by  L.  W 
Squier  (1912);  6,  "Social  Insurance,"  by  L  M.  Rubi- 
now   (1913). 

■  ••  i-.-gC  ^3v  Qi  :t!=  tjuuK.  L.  VV.  oquicr  savs;  '  i  iiat 
the  problem  is  present;  that  it  is  widespread;  that  it 
deeply  concerns  our  national  happiness  and  prosperity; 
that  its  demands  are  insistent,  and  that  the  attempt  at 

13 


H 


GKXKRAL  ASPi:CTS 


it>  pcnnancnt  sol„t„.n  must  he  nation-,  pcrliaps  world- 
wide, ca.inot  be  <lo„l,ted  |,y  an  intdli^cnt  (.b.ervcr  of 
ccononi.c  conditmns   to-,lay  " ;   and    I.    M.   Kubinovv.    in 

Industn,     s-ys  (pp.  301  and  ^02): 

n,,c^^'.f'''ui'^''-'    ^''^■^^'^^'■s^•■"^'^    of    civilization,    like 
most  other  blessing,  for  that  n,atter.  have  not  benefited 
all  dasscs  of  socety-not  in  the  same  degree,  anyway, 
tor  side  by  s.de  with  the  achievements  of  old  age  in  arts 
htcrature,  busmess,  professions,  science  and  statesmanship 
modern  civilization  on  its  industrial  >ide  has  created  the 
very  grave  problem  of  superannuation-thc  problem  of 
the    jobless,    helpless,    incomeless,    and    propertvless    old 
man  of  fifty.  '     Later   (p.  304)    he  sayL   ''Second,  the 
economic  conditions  of  the  wage-contract  accentuate  the 
economic  d.>abil,ty  of  old  age.      Under  normal  physio 
logical  conditions,  old  age,  unless  preceded  by  a  dehn  "e 
chrome  ailment,  should  lead  to  a  gradual  failing  of  the 
productive  process.     As  the  medieval  independent  worker 
became  old,   he   uorked   less   and   produced   less,   but  he 

For    an"  T    "u   "/"^''  '^  '^^"  "'^'^^'  "^"'^"'^^  something, 
i-or    an    agricultural    community,    the   usefulness   of   an 

old  man  or  woman  does  not  cease  until  actual  seniliti'  is 

established,   and   actual  senility   is  a  comparatively   rare 

nn  ,^[',"\^7^=>t'«"^  ^''ou-  the  trend  of  scientific  thought 
and  the  books  mentioned  and  others  give  full  informa^on 
concerning  the  measures  that  are  being  taken  abroad  and 
m  ^America    to    solve    the    problem  'on    the   Iglltrve 

In  the  following  pages  I  have  attempted  to  supple- 
st vt  ion"  r '"V"  '"''^^'^'■^  ^  ^''^'"S  ->•  concrete  ob- 
servations gamed  in  personal  contact  with  the  peoole 
discussed    describing  their  conditions  as  I  found  them 

It  IS  always  very  difficult  for  a  member  of  one  social 
f  mir  -;l-^;-cl  thoroughly  the  conditions  affcS  ng 
a  member  of  a  difterent  group.  We  mav  have  aporovi' 
.u.:te  cAi^cncnccs  but  never  verv  similar  ones  '  The 
best  we  can  do  ,s  to  enter,  as  far  as  possible,  ihroigh 
.magination  and  intuition,  and  by  a  process  of  cumuTa- 


OF  THE  PROBI.EM  15 

tivc  study  and  sympathetic  inquiry,  the  lives  of  many 
individuals  in  another  k'roup,  and  thus  enter  into  a  kind 
of  other-group  consciousness — to  think  and  feel,  as  it 
were,  in  terms  of  those  whom  we  arc  trjing  to  compre- 
hend. In  this  spirit  of  trying  to  see  the  individual  as 
an  individual,  and  \et  in  the  proper  relation  to  his  heri- 
tage and  environment,  the  following  studies  are  given. 
L  ntil  the  poor  are  considered  not  only  economically  hut 
individually,  with  all  their  personal  equations  taken  into 
account,  we  cannot  solve  their  problems,  any  more  than 
we  can  solve  their  problems  by  regarding  them  merely  as 
individuals  without  taking  into  account  their  economic 
relations. 

This  report  is,  then,  largely  a  de«:ription  of  individ- 
uals, supplemented  by  a  few  cautious  generalizations. 

After  interviewing  a  number  of  people,  I  decided  to 
divide  the  aged  persons  studied  for  better  understanding 
into  si.x  groups,  according  to  their  source  of  maintenance, 
giving,  under  each  group,  descriptions  of  typical  people! 
Ihis  was  rather  difficult,  because  each  person  was  very 
distinct  and,  in  a  way,  each  seemed  unique.  Still,  there 
was  enough  similarity  in  their  present  conditions,  if  not 
in  their  histories,  to  make  them  fit  into  such  a  simple 
classification.  Also,  it  was  difficult  to  decide  just  which 
"  cases  "  illustrated  each  group  or  chapter  best — for  some 
really  illustrate  several.  The  classification  is  thus  not 
rigid,  but  it  has  the  advantage  of  giving  a  few  distinct 
pictures  and  contrasts,  and  of  putting  general  facts  and 
actual  people  into  close  juxtaposition. 

As   no   statistics   compiled    from   one   hundred    people 
would    justify    elaborate    statistical    analysis,    statistical 
tables  aie  introduced  merely  to  show  that  the  one  hun- 
dred interviewed  were  a  fairly  varied  group. 
Here  arc  a  few  general  statistics: 


)ex 


Womcr 
Men    . 


05 
35 


100 


:c»'mi*^ 


i6 


6064 
80 


(JKNKRAL  ASPFXTS 
Ages 

( Women ) 


(Men) 


60-64  

65-69  

7<'-7'^  « 

80  '    ■■      , 


18 

I.} 
21 

4 
9 

63 

IS 
1 1 


35 


Kiitionalitits 
Women 

-2S  Irish   

'^  American    ij 

3  Colored 

4  Knjilisli 

4  (German    

3  Italian    

2  Scotch    

I  French 

'  Canadian 

I  Swiss 

3  Unknown    


Men 

10 


3 

6 

2 


65 


Condition 


35 


Women — 54  widows;  9  single;  2  separated. 
Men— M)  widowers;  3  single;  2  separated  or' divorced; 
21  married. 

I  neRlected  to  ask  twenty-one  women  and  eight  men 
It  they  had  savings,  hut  of  the  rest  five  women  nn.l  fiv^ 
men  had  savings— that  is,  ten  out  of  seventv-one  had 
savings.  The  savings  of  the  five  women  were  partly 
left  to  them  by  someone  else,   and,  except  in  one  case 


^^ji^Z^ 


OF  TIIK  F^R{)BIJ:m 


17 


rniild  not  last  long.  Of  tlir  five  men,  two  were  bache- 
lors and  coulif  thus  save  fairlv  easilv;  one  had  savings 
Mifhcient  for  one  year  only,  and  another's  savings  were 
fast  diminishing.  So  that  the  savings  counted  for  httle 
1  he  rcaM)n  I  neglected  to  ask  the  twentv-nine  per.ple 
If  tfiey  had  savings  was,  usuallv,  that  thev  so  obviously 
had  nothing. 

Almost  none  of  the  people  inter\iewed  had  had  earlv 
industrial  training.  I  neglected  to  ask  twenty-five  of 
the  women  if  they  had  had  special  training,  but  of  the 
forty  I  did  ask,  only  three  were  trained— of  those  one 
fur  dressmaking,  one  for  tailoring  and  one  for  millinerv 
Of  the  men  eleven  were  not  asked,  but  of  the  twent\- 
four  asked,  six  were  trained— two  in  Germanv.  one  as  a 
shoemaker  and  one  as  a  builder;  one  in  Scotland  as  a 
shoemaker  one  in  Italy  as  a  blacksmith,  and  two  in 
?sew  York,  one  as  a  bricklayer  and  one  as  a  carri.age- 
biiilder.  Lists  of  occupations  arc  given  in  each  of  the 
SIX  groups. 

Women  were  en-  '  almost  cntirelv  in  the  traditional 
woniens  occupatio,  -sewing,  dressmaking,  washing, 
^>  rubbing,  domestic  .svrvice  and  janitress  work  with  a 
few  in  factories  and  stores.  The  work,  as  a  whole,  was 
very  unskilled  work,  with  a  few  exceptions.  Probably 
m  another  generation  there  will  I  more  variety  in 
women  s  work.  Most  of  the  men  were  also  unskilled 
workers,  'hough  a  few  worked  in  factories  and  had  trades 
such  as  painter,  mason,  carpenter,  shoemaker,  bricklayer' 
printer,  baker.  1  hen  there  were  a  number  of  longshore- 
men and  truckmen,  and  a  number  had  little  street  stands, 
or  h.:Iped  their  sons  in  stores. 

There  are  certain  generalizations  which  might  be 
made  about  widows  and  widowers,  couples,  and  single 
men  .and  women,  but  one  hundred  people  seem  scarcely  a 
safe  basis  for  generalizations,  especiallv  as  this  study 
aiins  to  be  a  study  of  individuals  in  relation  to  the  gen- 
eral problem. 

.  :-.?rc   IS,   however,    uric   comnioii   qualitv   found,    not 
only  in  each  group,  but  in  almost  all  persons  interviewed 
and  that  was  economic  fear.     Fear  was  shown  by  nearly 
all  of   the  self-supporting  persons,   that  their  ability   to 


1^ 


"*.'.«  Wfi*^'^ 


:^^^^k^ 


iR 


(]IM  RAI.  ASrr.CTS 


i 


work  iiiiv.'lit  not  last  inmli  lonccr.  Kc.ir  was  shown  hy 
tliosr  (Irpciulcnt  on  tlicir  familirs,  that  the  relative  who 
was  the  srmnr  of  support  mi^ht  lose  his  or  her  job,  or 
nii^lit  marry  and  with  other  ilemand'^  he  (inable  to  help. 
Fear  was  shown  hy  those  dependent  (wholly  or  partly) 
on  charitv,  that  they  would  not  receive  sufficient  or  con- 
tinuous help. 

i'he  fear  of  heinp  forced  into  some  institution  was 
widespread  and  intense.  Then  there  was  the  fear  of 
illness.  Of  course  the  fear  of  illness  is  not  confined  to 
the  poor  or  aged,  hut  it  is  most  serious  for  the  poor, 
because  they  literally  cannot  afford  to  be  sick.  It  is 
one  thinp  to  be  ill,  with  the  care  and  comforts  which 
money  ran  buy.  add?d  to  the  care  and  consideration  that 
can  be  piven  by  relatives  who  have  leisure;  but  it  is 
another  matter  to  be  ill  when  almost  penniless,  and 
when  relatives  are  already  overburdened  with  work. 
The  combination  of  beinj;  old  and  poor  and  ill  is  tragic! 

Hy  this  1  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  I  found  all  the 
people  I  interviewed  unhappy.  Many  were  cheerful; 
some  because  of  fine  character,  and  some  because  they 
were  so  stupid  or  so  selfish  that  they  did  not  realize,  or 
did  not  care,  that  they  were  a  burden  to  their  families 
or  to  society.  On  the  whole,  however,  I  was  impressed 
by  the  worthiness  of  most  of  the  people  I  met,  by  their 
simple  virtues  of  unselfishness,  cheerfulness  and  courage, 
and  by  the  dignity  with  which  they  bore  their  hardships. 


\r.m:t<^^^i^^mmM^^^miiL 


^■■t^n; 


II 

Ac.ri)  iM.opi.i;  WHO  ark  sklfsippc^rtinc; 


T 


HIS  yroup  contains  twenty-seven  persons.     Their 
()Ciiip.iti<)M>  arc  as  fullowb: 


\inc    widous: 


() 


ne  lives  on  savings. 
One  lives  on  savings  and  takes  lod^jers. 
( )ne  dressmaker. 
(  )ne  does  >^e\\  in;;. 

One  t.ikes  child  as  hoarder  anil  s.ll>  newspapers. 
( )ne  does  otlice  scnibhin^. 

One  does  day's  work  out  and  washing  at  home. 
I  wo  in  domestic  service. 

One  single  noman: 
Has  two  furnished-room  houses. 

Ten   couples: 

(for  couples  the  history  of  the  man  is  given.) 

Two  live  on  savings. 

One  clerk. 

Two  j.mitors  with  wives'  assistance. 

One  truckman. 

One  has  street  candy  and  peanut  stand. 

One  in  store,  but  is  about  to  lose  job. 

Two  help  sons  in  stores. 

Three  nidowers : 

One  works  on  docks. 
One  brickla\er. 
One  night-watchman. 
»9 


^J-i.:*.. 


£:-x 


20  AGKD  PFOPLK  WHO 

7\io  single  turn  : 

One  janitor  with  odd  carpentry  jobs. 
One  has  savings. 

Two   sepnrnti  d   or   divrtrctd    men  : 

One  umbrella-mender 
One  has  newsstand. 

Four  people  belonpinfi  to  this  -Troup  are  described  in 
the  chapter,  "  DilTiciilties  of  Saving  for  Old  Age";  one 
widow  (No.  ()^),  one  couple  (No.  y,) .  one  widower 
(No.  56),  and  one  sinfrlc  man   (No.  O2). 

The  following  descriptions  are  piven  here  as  the  best 
illustrations  of  this  proup:  four  widows,  the  one  single 
woman,  two  couples,  one  widower  and  the  two  separated 
or  divorced  men. 

A'o.  6— Mrs.  C. 

Mrs.  C.  is  sixty-two  years  old.  and  (now  that  her 
varicose  vein,  have  grown  so  bad  that  '-he  can't  work)  has 
a  little  top-floor  back  room  in  a  furnished-room  house, 
though  until  recently  she  received  Ss.oo  a  week  in  do- 
mestic service.  She  was  a  servant  before  she  married, 
so  she  naturally  turned  to  that  after  her  husband  died 
sixteen  years  ago.  He  was  a  mechanical  engineer,  and 
died  on  a  trip  to  Japan,  leaving  no  savings.  Mrs.  C. 
has  had  to  stop  work  before  because  of  illness,  and  each 
time  hei  savings  have  been  broken  into.  This  time  they 
arc  nearly  gone,  and  the  visiting  nurse  told  me  she  prob- 
ably can  nevet  work  out  again,  though  she  thinks  she  can 
begin  work  again  soon.  The  clergyman  of  her  church 
thinks  she  ought  to  go  into  a  Home,  but  she  refuses  to 
do  that.  She  is  independent  and  cheerful,  and  doesn't 
want  charity.  She  is  cooking  on  the  oil  stove  that  heats 
her  room,  just  enough  to  keep  her  alive,  and  has  perfect 
faith  that  she  can  get  a  good  position  again  just  as  soon 
as  she  can  stand  on  her  feet  and  hobble  around. 

Her  children  are  dead,  an("  she  has  no  one  to  help 
her.  She  says  she  spends  $3.50  a  week,  for  room,  heat- 
ing, food,  etc. 


ARE  SKLF-SUPPORTING 


21 


No.   I— Mrs.  B. 

Mrs.  R.  I  met  scllinp;  papers  on  the  street.  She  is 
sixty-eitrht  years  old  and  shuffles  alonp;  painfullv.  with 
ragped  shoes.  Occasionally  she  falls  down  with  attacks  of 
dizziness,  but  she  manap;es  to  make  about  $2.00  a  week 
from  the  papers. 

I  went  home  with  her  and  found  her  pretty  young 
pranddauphter  of  seventeen  years  sick  in  bed.  This 
pranddauphter  lives  with  Mrs.  B.  because  her  mother 
drinks  and  is  immoral,  and  the  ^irl  feels  she  can't  live 
in  such  a  home,  thouph  apparently  she  and  her  mother 
are  on  sprakinp  terms,  and  work  in  the  same  horse- 
radish factory  nearby. 

With  Mrs.  R.'s  $2.00  a  week,  $10.00  a  month  paid 
for  the  board  of  a  child  (to  whom  Mrs.  B.  pives  de- 
votion but  not  very  competent  care)  and  the  prand- 
dauphter's  wapcs,  the  familv  budpet  covers  usual  ex- 
penses. Ri.t  the  pranddauphter  has  been  operated  upon 
for  appendicitis  and  now  is  sick  apain.  At  my  suppestion 
the  C.  O.  S.  was  asked  to  help  with  the  rent,  and  the 
request  was  pranted,  but  of  course  the  C.  O.  S.  can't 
keep  on  payinp  their  rent. 

The  prandda\iphter  feels  the  responsibility  of  aidinp 
in  her  prandmother's  support,  and  the  prandmothcr  feels 
the  need  of  working  just  as  lonp  as  she  can  drap  around, 
and  dreads  the  idea  of  being  dependent  on  her  delicate 
pranddauphter. 

Mrs.  B.'s  second  husband  died  twenty  years  apo  and 
left  no  savinps.  She  took  in  washinp,  took  children  to 
board  and  sold  newspapers.  She  used  to  make  about 
$6.00  a  week. 

They  have  three  rooms,  of  which  one  is  light,  in  a 
disreputable  street,  and  the  rooms  are  dirty,  but  that  is 
not  surprisinp,  as  the  pirl  stands  all  dav  at  her  factory- 
work,  and  Mrs  B.  exhausts  her  rtrenpth  sellinp  th? 
papers  and  domp  the  necessary  cooking. 

The    immoral    mother   keeps   a   vounp  son    with    her. 

lino    ii-i\-Ka<~    U«    IJ    »..i--    ,.  _  r  •11  .  . 

i'v-  ::v  \.uu:u  i.:k.c  iCi-.i^i-  vvirn  ine  gianiiiuutiier 
too,  but  until  he  can  work,  who  would  support  him? 
And  yet  with  it  all,— her  fear  and  her  growing  weak- 


22 


%?-'M- 


AGED  PKOPLE  WHO 


ncss.— Mrs    R    keeps  a  brave,  sweet  and  even  chcerfu 
niitlook  on  lite! 

Xo.   4S—Mrs.    ir. 

Mrs.  W.  is  a  widow,  an  office  scrubwoman.  She  i< 
s.xt\-two,  Irish,  but  has  hvc.l  in  New  York  fortv-nine 
years.  Before  she  married  she  was  a  domestic  servant 
so  after  her  husband's  death,  lhirt\-  vears  apo  (he  wa^ 
a  street  laborer),  she  went  out  washing  and  ironing 
which  pave  her  about  $7.00  to  S8.00  a  week.  Now  ^hc 
does  office  cleaning  at  $6.00  a  week.  She  had  three 
daughters  who  died;  one  who  worked  in  a  flower  fac- 
tory died  quite  recently.  She  lives  nlone  except  for  a 
lodger  to  whom  she  rents  a  room  for  «i.so  a  week  which 
reduces  her  rent  of  $1:5.00  a  mc  .h.  and  leaves  her 
enougn  tor  food,  heat,  clothing  and  '^ome  carfare.  She 
says  she  walks  as  much  as  she  can  to  save  carfare  but 
the  four  trips  a  day— the  office  cleaning  is  done  in  two 
sessions— make  too  much  walking. 

She  says  she  has  no  savings;  probablv  the  daughter's 
Illness  and  the  need  of  extra  coal  during  an  unusuallv 
severe  winter  took  her  savings. 

Mer  lodger  may  leave,  or  her  rheumatism  mav  grow 
so  much  worse  that  she  can't  work,  so  her  future  isn't 


very  secure! 


No. 


Mrs.  H. 


A/rs.   H.   IS  an   Irish  Catholic,   sixtv  vears  old.     She 
came  to  the  United  States  uhen  six  \ears  old,  and  had 
a  convent  training  till  she  was  fourteen  vears  old      She 
then    worked    in   a   shirtwaist    factorv   till   she   married 
Her  husband  died  fifteen  years  ago.  leaving  nothing  but 
hurial  insurance.     Her  son  left  her  some  savings      She 
has   a    Mster   and    two    nieces,    but   thev   can't   help   her 
and  sne^  lives  alone  with  t^vo  lodgers,  whose  pavments 
cover   the   rent  and    leave   a   little  over.      As  she  can't 
find  work  at  present  she  lives  on  that  "  little  over  "  and 
the  savings.     She  must  have  difficultv  getting  on.  and  I 
fancy  the  savings  are   not  enough   to   last  much   !nncT»r 
as  '^he  is  gloomy  and  pessimistic  and  worried  about  "the 
future. 


ARE  SELF-SUPPORTING 
No.  II — Miss  D. 


23 


Miss  D.  is  a  shrewd,  cncrpetic  Irish  spinster  of  seventy- 
five,  still  fairly  well  and  strong.  She  was  at  one  time 
a  tailoress,  but  has  h  '  for  years  uvo  furnished-room 
housTs,  paying  the  amazing  rent  of  $1,600  for  them.  i.e. 
for  both.  There  arc  twentv-one  rooms,  which  she  rents 
for  $1.75  to  $4.00  a  week.  She  savs  that  lately  she  just 
clears  enough  to  live  on,  and  slie  has  a  great  deal  of 
work,  as  she  keeps  the  rooms  in  order  herself.  She  says 
she  has  "  lent  relatives  money."  and  that  "  they  will  have 
to  take  care  of  me  when  I  can't  work  longer!  "  Aside 
from  this  rather  unbusinesslike  arrangement,  she  seems 
an  example  of  a  rather  unusually  intelligent  woman  of 
her  class  and  she  certainly  is  unusually  strong  phvsically. 
She  isn't  a  fair  example  of  what  most  women' of  her 
age  can  do.  Of  course,  it  remains  to  be  seen  how  well 
these  relatives  will  reward  her.  Single  women  are  espe- 
cially apt  to  be  preyed  upon  by  relatives,  and  when  they 
liavc  savings  they  rarely  take  proper  care  of  them. 

No.  5— Mr.  B. 

Mr.  B.  is  a  native  American,  sixt}-three  years  old. 
He  and  his  wife  are  still  well  and  strong  enough  'o  work. 
They  do  janitor  work  fcr  four  houses,  receiving  four 
rooms,  coal  and  gas  free  and  $12.00  a  month  pay,  which 
IS  just  enough  for  food.  Probably  tips  help  out.  He 
used  to  be  a  driver  and  a  porter,  averaged  $16.00  a 
week,  but  they  had  thirteen  children  to  provide  for,  and 
of  the  six  left  none  can  now  help  them.  They  have  no 
savings  and  no  insurance,  i  didn't  see  Mr.  B..  but 
Mrs.  B.  said  they  always  wanted  to  be  independent,  and 
'■  when  we  can't  care  for  01  rselves  we'll  go  to  the  poor- 
house."  It  is  easy  enough  for  her  to  say  that  now 
when  they  can  both  work,  and  such  a  contingency  seems 
impossible,  but  to  the  observer  who  thinks  of  old  age 
and  incapacity  not  far  off.  such  reliance  upon  a  capital 
of  physical  strength  seems  rather  desoerate.  Th»  '.vrirrinn 
made  the  speech  in  a  belligerent  tone,  not  as  if  she  and 
her  husband  would  ever  go  to  the  poorhouse  with  any 
willingness. 


iiT. 


jji 


24 


AGKD  Pi:OPI,K  WFK) 


'I  he  following  ca^p  ill\istrati-s  a  transitional  stage 
which  is  typical  probably  of  what  will  happen  later  with 
others  described  as  self-siipportinfr  at  present,  but  with 
tlie  imminent  poNsibility  of  being  obliged  to  give  up  work. 

No.  6y~Mr.  D.  Z. 

Mr.  D.  7..,  over  sixty,  was  introduced  to  mc  by  some 
neighbf)rs,  who  took  me  to  call  on  him,  evidently  hoping 
I  could  help  him  in  some  way,  and  interpreted  for  me. 
Me  was  born  in  Italy  and  has  been  in  New  York  four- 
teen \ears,  but  never  took  out  naturalization  papers.  It 
was  prob.ibly  a  big  mist.ake  for  him  to  leave  Italy,  as  he 
had  a  position  as  a  government  forester  there.  At  first 
he  did  brass  work  in  a  factory  here,  but  now  he  is  only 
a  clerk  in  a  candy  store,  receiving  $4.50  to  $5.00  a 
week,  and  even  th  '  he  is  to  lose  soon.  He  can't 
speak   Knglish  and  -d  stupid  and  glum,  so  probably 

his  employer  can't  tie  blamed  for  dismissing  him,  as  he 
would  not  attract  trade.  His  wife  is  in  a  hospital  with 
tuberculosis.  He  lives  alone.  He  has  two  sons,  but 
apparently  they  can't  help  much,  and  ihe  two  Italian 
girls  who  interpreted  seemed  to  think  out.,ide  aid  would 
be  needed. 

Xo.  57— Mr.  n. 

Mr.  H.  is  one  of  my  absolutelv  unauthenticated  cases, 
but  his  story  was  interesting,  and  plausible  enough.  I 
met  him  on  the  str*  et.  He  said  he  was  seventy-two  and 
was  born  in  Scotland,  but  came  to  America  when  thirty 
years  oM  and  took  out  naturalization  papers.  He  had 
learned  shoemaking  from  his  father,  and  followed  that 
trade  until  his  wife  made  him  become  a  weaver  because 
she  was  one.  He  didn't  like  being  a  weaver,  and  wasn't 
successful,  and  after  her  death  went  back  to  shoemaking 
—evidently  with  general  relief,  as  he  said  she  was  so 
very  ditlicult  he  nvxer  wished  to  marry  again.  But 
finally  he  had  to  give  up  shoemaking,  and  now  he  is  a 
night-watchman  at  a  men  s  iiotel  kept  by  a  very  stingy 
woman,  who  pays  him  onlv  ,^s  cents  a  night  in  addition 
to  a  bed  in  the  daytime.     Out  of  that  35  cents  he  has  to 


arf:  self-supporting 


2$ 


'f. 


's 


tret  his  meals,  fic  said,  "  Ml  uc.,k  till  I  have  to  go  into 
an  institution.  '  and  apparentlv  was  not  alarmed,  espe- 
cially, at  that  prospect,  because  he  is  at  present  so  un- 
conitortable.  He  ha>  no  rehitivcs  in  this  country,  and 
at  seventy-two  he  cannot  expect  to  live  so  nianv  more 
\  ears.  A  small  amount  would  enable  such  a  man'  to  live 
in  independence  and  comfort  at  a  Mills  Hotel. 

A'o.  5~'—Mr.  A. 

Mr.  A.'s  career  must  be  a  fairlv  tvpical  one.  He  has 
a  newsstand  on  Hudson  Street,  and  is  independent  and 
cheerful  in  spite  ot  his  wooden  le^r.  I  had  no  one  to 
a  iienticatc  his  stor\.  but  it  seemed  probable.  He  was 
^orn  in  New  Jersey  sixt\-three  years  ap),  and  worked 
on  a  tarm,  then  he  was  a  mason,  and  in  an  accident  lost 
a  iej;.  He  worked  in  a  restaurant,  and  finally  settled  at 
the  newsstand.  He  said  he  took  in  about  $i.oo  a  day 
He  was  separated  or  divorced,  probablv  the  former  as 
poor  Pc-ople  are  rarely  divorced.  He  has  tliree  children, 
but  said.  1  hey  can  t  help  me.  and  anvwav  I  wouldn't 
u  ;mt  to  depend  on  my  children." 

Aside  from  his  lameness  he  is  well.  He  has  a  "  fur- 
nished room  "  somewhere,  and  must  get  on  well  on  '^^  (X) 
a  week  just  for  himself,  and  be  able  to  save  something 
I  met  one  or  two  other  old  men  with  little  stands 
and  telt  as  if  that  were  quite  an  appropriate  and  pleasant 
mode  of  livelihood  for  men  incapacitated  for  hard  work 
but  nf  course  it  takes  some  little  capital  to  get  a  license 
and  to  start  a  stand,  and  there  is  competition,  and  then 
It  takes  fair  health  for  even  that  work,  which  requires 
being  out  of  doors  more  or  less  in  all  kinds  of  weather. 

lliis  story  is  much  like   the  preceding  and  both  are 
^Jivcn  as  examples  of  comfortable  self-support. 

,Vo.  94~Mr.   T. 

Mr.    'I"     I    niPt    -it-    Ki\-    »^...l„    -i    ., 1      • 

I      I,  ■        --■-•■••    •••-     :::'iv  •.,•:    •...inijcring  street   uoi- 

l^relli-mender.  He  sai.i  he  earned  about  >7.m  a  week 
and  tnat  he  was  separated  from  his  wife  and  lived  at  a 
nien  s  hotel.     He  was  born  in   New  \  ork,   i.  sivtv-^ive 


26       SELF-SUPPORTING  AGED  PEOPLE 


'A 
It 


years  old,  and  said  he  was  perfectly  well.  He  looked 
as  if  he  drank  rather  heavily,  hut  perhaps  his  out-of-door 
life  accounted  partly  for  his  apnearancc.  He  had 
worked  on  the  docks  and  railroad,  where  he  got  $40.00  to 
$50.00  a  month.  He  enjoys  his  present  trade,  as  did 
another  man,  who  earned  about  $4.00  a  week,  selling 
feather  dusters  all  over  New  York.  He  said,  however, 
he  had  no  savings,  which  he  ought  to  have,  with  $7.00 
a  week  and  no  one  else  to  support.  He  really  is  the  sort 
of  man  one  could  see  go  to  Blackwells  Island  without 
great  regret,  and  yet  he  has  a  rather  independent  spirit, 
and  I'd  be  sorry  to  send  anyone  to  Blackwells  Island. 

Of  these  people  described,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  no 
one  had  a  future  really  well  assured,  except  perhaps 
No.  1 1,  wliich  is  rather  curious,  because  the  single  women 
of  the  investigation  were  mostly  worse  ofiE  than  married 
people  with  children  to  depend  on  and  than  single  men. 

The  special  deduction  to  be  drawn  from  this  group  is 
the  uncertain  future  of  most  elderly  people  who  are  still 
working.  They  would  not  be  working  with  their  phys- 
ical disabilities,  many  of  them,  if  they  had  someone  else 
to  depend  upon,  and,  therefore,  when  their  present  ca- 
pacity for  work  gives  out,  as  it  soon  will,  they  have  no 
one  on  whom  to  rely  for  support. 


Ill 

AGED   PEOPLE    PARTLY   SELF-SUPPORTING 

AND  PARTLY  SUPPORTED  HY  THEIR 

FAMILIES 


T 


HIS    group    contains    nine    persons.      They    are 
grouped  as  follows: 

Six  widoivs: 

Three  j an i tresses. 

One  takes  lodgers. 

One  sews  on  skirts. 

One  does  washing  at  home. 

One  single  iioman: 
Dressmaker. 

One  married  couple: 
Longshoreman  (husband). 

One  U'idoiver: 
Mason  and  plasterer. 

One  of  this  group  (a  widow)  is  described  in  the 
chapter  on  "Difficulties  of  Saving  for  Old  Age"  (No. 
68). 

The  following  descriptions  are  given  as  the  best  illus- 
trations of  their  group:  two  widows,  the  one  single 
woman,  the  widower,  and  the  couple. 

Mrs.  A  I.  is  an  Italian.  sevent>-rive  years  old.  She 
has  been   in   New  York  fifteen   years,   but  speaks  very 

27 


v^";«d'^,!- 


jj 


28         PARTLY  Sr.LF-SUPPORTING  AND 

little  r.nt:li>h,  as  lu-r  daiii^htcr  answered  my  questions 
alto^etluT.  She  has  rheumatism,  but  docs  sewing  on 
cloth  skirts.  Her  daughter  said  her  mother  had  never 
worked  except  at  home.  She  now  lives  with  a  son  and 
his  wife  and  one  child,  and  the  married  daughter  lives 
in  the  same  house  on  another  Hoor.  The  name  was  given 
me  without  any  details,  and  I  couldn't  find  out  many 
details.  1  saw  them  working  on  the  ready-made  skirts, 
and  apparently  the  family  was  able  to  care  for  the 
mother,  only  she  w.is  expected  to  work  as  long  as  pos- 
sible. This  illustration  is  given  to  show  one  of  the  ways 
that  old  women  can  help  along  a  little  when  they  have 
families  able  to  take  the  larger  part  of  their  support. 

No.  8(J—Mrs.  P. 

Mrs.  P..  a  colored  woman,  sixty  years  old,  having 
done  laundry  work  in  a  laundry  for  years,  now  does 
occasional  washings  at  home.  She  lives  with  two  grand 
children,  one  seventeen  years  old,  and  they  help  her,  as 
she  doesn't  make  enough  to  support  herself.  As  she  sa\s, 
"  I've  been  sickly  for  ten  years."  Still,  she  probably 
makes  enough  to  provide  food  for  herself. 

No.  18— Miss  II. 

Miss  H.,  "over  sixty,"  Irish,  was  a  dressmaker,  but 
now  can't  get  much  work,  though  she  is  well  enough  to 
sew.  She  lives  alone,  making  what  she  can,  and  her 
sister  contributes  to  her  support.  She  spoke  as  if  her 
sister  could  fairly  easily  help  her,  and  she  evidently  likes 
living  alone  and  gets  on  on  a  very  small  amount. 

No.  40 — Mr.  S. 

Mr.  S.  is  an  intelligent  German,  who  has  been  in 
America  thirtv  vcars. 

At  the  time  of  his  wife's  death  he  iiad  help  from  the 
C.  ().  S.,  and  the  two  younger  children  were  put  in  an 
orphanage.  Now  he  and  his  sixteen-year-old  daughter 
manage  to  live  in  an  independent  but  poverty-stricken 
way.     Me  had  a  trade-school  training  and  worked  as  a 


A.^^j^;i^-^JS,r.^«^-*»^4-tMBJ^^^fc^^j^j£y  .Jill  I    rm  1 1 


sLri'ORir.i)  in  thkir  famii.h.s     29 

liuililcr.  lie  once  had  his  lite  insiireil,  hut  failed  to  keep 
up  payments  and  the  policy  lapsed.  He  ha>  heen  in- 
capacitated by  severe  asthma  for  \ears,  but  is  (Kcasionally 
able  to  do  odd  jobs  a>  mason  and  plasterer.  It  is  pathetic 
to  see  his  various  si^ns  a.IviTtisin^  his  trade,  because  of 
course  he  can't  be  very  competent  now  because  of  his 
failing  '^trentith  and  poor  breathintr,  and,  besides,  the 
preH-nt-day  demand  is  for  youn^'er  men,  who  will  work 
(|uickly,  even  if  not  so  carefully  or  accurately. 

So  Mr.  S.  doesn't  ^et  much  employment.  His  daugh- 
ter bejian  work  .it  fourteen  and  now  at  sixteen  has  oci  i- 
sional  factory  w(»rk.  She  recently  received  $4.00  a  week 
at  a  bov  factory,  but  as  soon  as  a  ■'lack  season  arrived 
she  was  laid  off.  She  isn't  strong;  has  rheumatism  and 
a  weak  heart.  She  has  been  advised  to  "  live  out,"  but 
she  can't  bear  to  leave  her  father,  and  he  really  does 
need  her,  as  M)me  of  his  attacks  are  very  bad.  Of  course 
for  a  delicate  jjirl  to  be  so  insutlicicntly  fed  and  clothed 
is  an  economic  wa>te,  as  she  will  inevitably  become  a 
care  to  society  in  an  incurable  hospital  or  some  institution 
urlle^s  she  dies.  Her  father  chafes  at  his  inability  to 
support  himself  and  her.  He  realizes  she  ou^^ht  not  to 
work,  and  yet  they  both  need  the  money  she  earns  at 
times.  He  has  worked  when  he  could,  and  evidently 
been  steady  and  temperate.  He  is  now  a  really  tragic 
iigure. 

No.  71— Mr.  G. 

Mr.  G.,  Irish,  sixty  years  old,  was  at  one  time  a 
second  foreman,  working;  on  the  White  Star  Company 
docks  ai  Sao.Oc)  a  week.  Then  he  worked  as  a  long- 
shoreman, and  now  he  g^'^^  "nlv  occasional  jobs.  He  is 
well  enough,  but  can't  ^Qt  much  work.  He  partly  sup- 
ports himself,  and  he  and  his  wife  li\c  with  two  sons, 
aj:cd  twenty-one  and  twenty-three,  unmarried,  and  a 
widowed  ■_  iuf,'hter  with  one  child.  His  wife  said,  "  It 
would  set  him  crazy  if  he  had  to  be  dependent  on  his 
s(jns,"  but  of  course  a  little  later  it  must  come  to  that. 

These  illustrations  (except  \os.  78  and  18)  seem  to 
indicate  that  the  efforts  of  old  people  are  required,  even 


.A^tm^^mm^jmuum 


.10 


PARTLY    SKLF-SUPi'ORTINr, 


uhiMi  tlicy  can  only  tontiibutc  a  little  to  the  family  in- 
come. No.  4(1  may  sound  extreme,  but  is,  in  my  opinion, 
a  ratlier  t\pical  case. 

I  found  that  with  only  two  or  three  exceptions  old 
people  do  not  ^'ive  >ip  working  before  the\  have  to.  On 
the  whole,  all  worked  who  could  possibl\   work. 


I 


IV 


AGKU    Pi:OPLE    SUPPORTF.D   ENTIRELY 
THEIR  FAMILIES 


BV 


THIS  Kroup  contains  tAvcnty-n'uht  persons.      They 
arc  yroiipcd  according  to  their  last  occupation. 

Fifteen  li'iiiows: 

Four  did  washing. 

Two  did  sewing. 

One  domestic  nurse. 

One  did  book-folding. 

(Jne  was  in  an  underwear  factory. 

One  lived  out. 

Two  never  worked. 

Three  unclassified. 

Two  single  women: 

One   curled    feathers   in   a   shop. 
One  was  chambermaid  in  a  hotel. 

Seven  couples: 

One  truck  driver. 

Three   longshoremen. 

One   dock-worker. 

One  in  tobacco  factory. 

One  in  sugar  house,  stableman  and  watchman. 

Four  widowers: 

Two   longshoremen. 
One  in  factory. 
One  baker. 

Several  persons  in  this  group  are  described  elsewhere 
as  follows:  Two  widows  (Nos.  85  and  87),  tuo  couples 
(Xos.  31    and  95)    and  one  widower   (No.  60)    in  the 

3« 


if . 


32 


Ac;i;i)  I'KopF-i:  supportki) 


diaptcr,  "  r.ffccts  of  Dcprmlriuy  ";  one  wiiluu  (No.  lo) 
in  the  ih:i|)tiT,  "  DiHicultu-s  ot  S.lv.n^;'■;  one  wiilow 
(No.  5S),  one  lon^sliorciii;m  (No.  -u),  oiir  couple  (No. 
97)  and  one  widower  (No.  <j2)  in  the  chapter,  "  Causes 

ot  Dependency." 

'llie  lollowinti  de>criptions  are  t;iven  as  the  be>t  illus- 
trations of  their  uroup:  three  widows,  one  single  woman, 
two  couples  and  one  widouer. 

Ao.  /4 — Mrs.  A. 

Mrs.  K.  is  Irish.  si\t\-eit;ht  \ears  old.  She  wa-;  a  do- 
mestic servant  till  she  married,  and  after  her  hii>li.mds 
death,  twenty  years  ajzo,  she  workeil  in  an  iiniieruear 
factory,  but  she  liaMi't  been  able  to  work  for  thirteen 
years  on  account  of  sickness  and  then  feebleness. 

She  lives  with  a  wiilowed  daughter  aiul^  her  two  chil- 
dren. There  are  no  other  relatives.  TIk-  daughter 
makes  :f'().oo  to  $7.(»c)  a  week  in  a  handkerchief  factors. 
Seven  dollars  a  week  is  not  enout;h  for  two  adults  and 
two  children;  indeed  it  is  most  insutficient. 

The  two  following;  cases  seem  especially  f;ood  illustra- 
tions of  families  entirely  willing  to  support  the  aged 
member,  making  no  appeal  for  outside  aid  (unless  hav- 
ing the  servu^  of  a  disuict  visiting  nurse  is  considered 
appealing  to  charity,  and  poor  people  don't  consider  it 
exactly  that),  while  ;dl  the  time  an  outsider  can  sec  the 
cttects  of  undcr-nourishment  and  strain. 

No.  S4 — ^Irs.  A. 

Mrs.  A.  is  from  Sweden,  a  I'rotestant.  She  was  a 
domestic  laundress  till  she  married,  and  her  husband  was 
a  boiler-maker,  who  left  no  savings  when  he  died.  She 
is  crippled  and  unabL  to  work.  She  lives  with  a  married 
daughter  and  her  husband  and  two  children.  The  son- 
in-law  makes  $12.00  a  week.  There  are  no  other  rela- 
tives. The  mother  and  two  young  children  look  sickly. 
Twelve  dollars  a  week  is  not  enougii  to  suppoil  a  lamiiy 
of  three  adults  and  two  children.  They  cannot  possibly 
have  enough  to  eat. 


Sm 


rNriRi.f.\  in'  thiir  i AMii.n;s 

Mrs.    I).,    Iri^ll.   scvcnf\ -scvf 


33 


Til  vr.irs  old,  lives  w  itli  a 
(l.uitrlitcr  ;iM(l  M.n  in-law  and  ««iv  clindrrn.  She  has  In-rn 
a  w  i(l<nv  tor  ci^ilitccn  Ncars,  and  liaMi't  hern  able  to  work 
for  fittfcn  years,  wliiili  is  natural,  considcrini:  her  ai:c. 
The  son-in-law  is  a  triu  k-drivcr.  inakintr  >I2.<>«)  a  wrck. 
'llio  xoiin^'c^t  child  is  a  hahy.  hut  think  of  three  adults 
and  Jive  children  livin;^  (.n  >I2.()0  a  week!  Thev  all 
looked  silk  and  di>idur,iLii(l  and  dirt\.  'I'lie  wv.  her  and 
dauL'Iiter  ^cenicd  to  think  the  mother's  dependentc  nat- 
ural, but  the  son-in-law  nniNt  feel  it  hard  to  support  his 
mother-in-law  when  he  i>n"t  making  enou^ih  to  care  for 
hi>  children  properlv. 

.Vo.  ^r—Misa  S. 

Miss  S.  manages  somehow  to  impress  one  with  hei 
tli^rnity,  even  thouuh  she  and  her  sister  live  in  one  back 
room  in  a  furnished- room  house  on  a  disreputable  and 
hopelessly  dirty  street.  'I'liey  are  favored  jruests,  in  that 
the  janitress  ;;ives  them  ireals  in  the  h.isement,  and  when 
Miss  S.  is  unusu.iUy  sick  she  li.is  her  meals  on  a  tray 
upstairs,  as  she  is  seventy-eij^hr.  The  \ounper  sister  is 
about  sixty,  but  seems  vounj:  in  comparison  and  is  still 
curling  feathers  in  a  shop.  Kor  a  while  during  the 
spring  she  was  laid  oft  from  work,  and  in  trying  a  new 
lempoi.uy  position  she  found  that  younger  girls  could 
work  much  f.ister,  and  was  very  thankful  to  regain  her 
old  job  at  SI2.CX1  a  week,  out  of  which  she  pays  is^.oo 
for  board,  i.e.,  for  both  her  sister  and  herself.  There 
is  a  brother  of  seventy-two,  whose  wife  died  recently, 
who  has  diabetes  and  gets  a  police  pension  of  514. (xi 
per  week  (as  a  patrolman  in  service  he  made  $\,2cki 
a  \ear).  He  had  not  helped  the  sisters,  but  perhaps  he 
will  now  that  his  w  ife  is  dead  after  a  long  sickness.  Hut 
he  may  die  soon  himself.  The  \()unger  sister  wishes 
tliat  her  sister  would  go  into  a  Home,  but  won't  suggest 
it  to  her,  and  is  struggling  hard  to  take  care  of  her  and 
.-tippuft  iirf.  1  SIC  uiur!  M^tcr  liiifMi  t  rraiizc  Tnf=;c  strug- 
gles, and  is  full  of  pride  over  her  sister's  abilities.  As 
she   told   me  one  day,    "  ^7     sister  is   treasurer  of   the 


•«■■ 


■MMUMHI 


34 


A(}r,r)  rr.opi.F.  si  pportid 


dub  at  the  cliurdi,  and  ulion  she  wished  to  rcsi^jn, 

the  pr(-.iih-nt  simply  \sf)uhl  not  allr)\v  it."  The  S/s  were 
born  in  New  ^'ork,  ami  have  a  feeliiiir  of  responsibility 
fr)r  poorer  iiciL'hbcrs.  Once  from  the  \\  irnhnv  I  saw  a 
man  dressed  in  rat"^.  sditirvj;  over  the  content'^  of  the 
ash  barrel  in  the  backyard,  and  Mi-s  S.  exclaimed,  ''  Oh, 
that  is  old  JJismartk.  lie  comes  around  every  f'-w  days, 
and  we  pive  him  pennies.  He  lives  on  the  Hower>-,  and 
is  supported  by  odd  jobs  and  ^ifts.  1  haven't  seen  him 
for  some  time;  no  dmibt  we  pamper  him  sometimes,  and 
when  he  pets  too  many  pennies  he  pets  drunk."  'I  his 
w;is  said  with  a  prand  air  oi  kitidly  patronaize.  Poor 
women,  they  are  both  so  really  .idmirable 
respecting — what  is  to  be  their  fate! 


and    self- 


Xo.  6i~Mr.  C. 

Mr.  C.  is  sixty-five  years  old,  Tri^li.  and  an  invdid 
with  bad  asthma.  He  was  a  lonpshoreman  earninp  any- 
where from  Ss.oi  to  >2S.fX")  a  week,  towards  the  end  onlv 
an  averape  of  >r).oo  a  week.  Hut  he  hasi\'t  been  able 
to  work  for  ten  years  on  account  of  illness,  and  hi 
wife  can't  work  either. 

Thev  live  with  an  tmmarricd  son  nf  twenty-four  years, 
who  makes  only  ?8.oo  a  week.  A  married  dauphter. 
living  in  the  same  house  with  them,  has  six  children  and 
savs  she  can't  help  her  parents  financially,  but  must,  I 
think,  help  some.  The  man  was  too  sick  to  talk,  but 
the  wife  and  dauphter  said  they  felt  the  situation  "  was 
hard  "  on  the  son  and  I  quite  apreed  with  them.  I 
found  the  case  throuph  a  nuiH>,  and  the  family  seemed 
independent  and  self-rcspcctinp.  Savinps  were  eaten  up 
by  the  man's  long  illness,  and  now  the  two  old  people 
depeiid  entirely  on  the  son. 

Xo.  SJ—^rr.  ^r. 

Mr.  M.  is  Irish,  sixt\-seven  years  old.  He  was  a 
longshoreman,  and  had  no  savinps  when  he  had  a  para- 
Ivtic  stroke  eighteen  years  ago.  He  and  his  wife  of 
sixty  one  live  with  their  son  of  twenty-two,  unmarried, 
who  work>^    in  the  docks.     I  talked  with  the  wife,  who 


KNTIRKf.^-  HV  THIIR  FAMIMI.S         .r 

s.iid  her  '^tcr  and  coum'iis  were  tlu-  only  other  relatives 
ami  couldn't  help,  so  their  support  falls  entirely  on  the 
\oung  son.     She  didn't  sav  how  much  he  made. 


Xo.  06 -Mr.   T. 

Mr.  T.  was  horn  in  Ireland  and  came  to  the  I'nited 
States  when  m'neteen  ;  now  he  is  sixty.  As  a  lon^vhore- 
man  he  earned  >i2.(Xi  to  >20.(xi  a  week — less  as  he  ^rew 
older.  His  rheumatism  made  him  ^ive  up  work  three 
years  aizo.  He  lost  his  wife  ei<:ht  months  aL'o  and  lives 
with  an  unmarried  daughter  who  works  in  a  store.  He 
has  sisters  in  Urooklvn.  hut  they  r.m't  help.  He  IkuI 
no  savings  when  he  stopped  work,  hut  has  some  insur- 
ance. So  the  daughter  must  have  had  to  support  hoth 
parents  for  three  \ears,  and  now  has  her  father  to  care 
K.r  entirely. 

1  he  special  deduction  from  this  pr<nip  seems  to  be 
that  the  children  show  willinfxness  to  support  their  par- 
ents, but  that  they  have  manv  difficulties  in  so  doing. 

Many  families  are  strugglinp;  so  hard  for  a  bare  ex- 
istence that  even  the  smallest  additional  strain  is  a  bur- 
den. Of  course  the  old  people  do  not  eat  a  f^reat  deal, 
hut  their  food  costs  something,  and  they  take  space 
u  hich  otherwise  might  bring  in  some  income  from  board- 
ers or  lodgers. 

This^  subject  is  taken  up  more  fully  in  the  chapter 
on  "  Efifects  of  Dependency."  The  information  was 
given  me  that  Italian  men  usually  retire  very  early  and 
are  supported  by  their  children,  but  I  did  not  happen  to 
encounter  this  condition  among  the  Italians  I  visited,  per- 
haps because  the  ones  I  visited  were  poorer  than  those 
referred  to;  and  certainly  I  did  not  find  this  the  case  with 
other  nationalities. 

C^n  the  whole,  it  seemed  to  m^  that  the  old  people 
worked  as  long  as  possible  and  that  their  families  strug- 
gled hard  to  support  them  when  they  could  work  no 
longer,  Tn  fact,  it  seemed  as  if  th.r  familip';'  ^fnirrtr].";: 
were  often  too  great,  and  that  the  whole  economic 
standard  of  the  families  was  thereby  lowered. 


1 


ill 


•<•■■ 


m 


AC,]])  PKOPM.  WHO  ARK  PARTLY'  SFLK- 

Sl  I'l'OR  riNd   AM)    i'ARTIA     1)1,- 

PK.NDl.NT  ON  CHARITY' 

THIS    m'oup    contains    ciL'lit    prr<on'^.       'I"lir\     are 
;.M()iiin(i  a>.  follows,  jzivinp;  their  occupation: 

Six  liid'ru's: 

Two  janitrr^scs    (at   prc^ci'.t). 

( )iu'  .'I  tOnncr  (!oni('>tic  nurse. 

( )iu'  (Iocs  a  little  janltre>^^  work. 

( )ne  (Iocs  a  little  wa^hinj:. 

( )Me  helps  one-thinl  \ear  in  fre>Ii  air  home. 

Oiii    single   liftman: 
Furnished  rooni^. 

One  sini/li    nuni : 
I, allies'    (^re^sInake^. 

One  willow  (No.  (k))  is  descrihcil  in  the  chajiter, 
"  Di-like  of  In'-titutions."  Tiie  single  man  (No.  \i) 
is  described  in  the  chapter,  "  Causes  of  I)ependenc\ ." 

'l"he  following  descriptions  are  jjivcn  here:  Three 
widows  and  the  single  woman,  ns  best  illustrations  of 
this  proup. 

A'o.  J 3— Mrs.  S. 

Mrs.  S.  is  seventv-four,  a  native  of  Germany.  She 
said  she  stopped  school  at  twelve  years  old  to  help  her 
father,  a  tailor,  working  with  him  till  she  came  to 
America,  at  the  ape  of  twenty-two.  She  tlicn  ••'•rkcd 
as  a  domestic  servant  till  she  married.  Her  husband 
was  a  glazier  at  '$\za'>o  a  week.     He  left  no  insurance. 

36 


PARTLY  DFPf^NDFNT  ON  CHARITY      j; 

She  has  "burial  insurance."  She  works  as  a  janitress 
for  free  rooms,  and  the  A.  I.  C.  P.  jrive'^  her  $^.00  a 
week  for  herself  and  two  t:randcliihlren.  She  had  ci;,'ht 
children.  One  daughter  and  three  sons  are  left,  hut 
can't  help  her.  She  is  ■.mm  to  he  moved  hy  the  Society 
to  the  Hron\  and  two  other  prandchildren  arc  to  live 
with  her,  and  a  ^fneral  new  arrantreiuent  is  to  be  made. 
She  has  a  most  independent  spirit  and  is  hard-working 
and   self-re^pectinp. 


No.  44— Mrs.  T. 

Mrs.  T.  is  sixty-four,  a  native  New  >'orker  in  pretr>- 
pood  physical  condition  for  her  ape.  She  does  janitrcss 
work  in  a  small  hou'^e,  wluch  reduce;^  the  rent  from 
$16.00  to  $10.00  a  month.  Then  she  ge«:s  sewing  from  a 
church,  from  which  she  makes  $1.00  a  week,  and  receives 
an  outright  pift  of  50  cents  a  week,  so  she  is  not  depend- 
ent on  her  family,  practic;i"v  brinpinp  in  the  equivalent 
of    board    and     lodpinp.  e    lives    with    a    widowed 

daughter  who  has  a  son  of  urteen  years.  The  daugh- 
ter earns  $10.00  a  week  and  two  meals  daily,  working 
in  the  restaurant  at  the  Grand  Central  Station.  This 
wape  is  pood,  but  the  hours  re  Iiad,  from  2:30  in  the 
afternoon  to  12:30  at  nipht,  and  the  continual  electric 
lipht  and  underpround  rooms  are  bad  for  her  eyes  and 
health  penerally.  So  it  is  well  that  the  grandmother  can 
help  herself  at  present,  and  perhaps  when  the  boy  poes 
to  work  the  mother  can  change  to  less  harmful  work, 
thouph  the  grandmother  may  not  be  able  to  do  janitre.s 
work  much  longer.  The  sewing  of  course  is  charity, 
but  she  does  not   feel   it   that  exactly. 

No.  33— Mrs.  N. 

Mrs.  N.  is  sevcnt>-,  a  native  New  Yorker.  She  never 
worked  till  fifteen  \ears  ago.  Her  husband  died  seven- 
teen years  ago,  and  she  lived  with  her  father,  who  had 

a   U.   S.   Army   pension,    for   two  vears.     Then   she  did 

u: —    -I- J     -f.-"n      I      -  '■>...'        ■     •  •  •         • 

■.-.  .-o:!!!!^    a.!u    r.i:ii    i;;;c'>    a    linic,     Dur    maKeS    uiliy    auout 

SO  cents  a  week  recently,  as  she  is  growing  feeble.     Her 
church  gives  her  sewing,  which  brings  her  about  $3.50 


■H 


38     PKOPF.K  PARTI.^'  SKI,F-SLTPORTING 


a  week.     She  liv 
^7.50  a  month  t 


xh\<  $4.00  a  wet'k,  alone,  pa>i:;j^ 
lit  and   SO  cents  a  week  for  coal. 


This  case  alinost  hclonps  with  the  proiip  of  people 
v/holly  dependent  on  charity,  but  I  put  it  here  as  she 
earns  a  trifle.  It  atid  Case  No.  26  in  the  next  chapter, 
and  others,  show  tlie  part  taken  by  church  aid. 

Xo.  J 5 — Mhs  F. 

Mi<s  F.  is  a  native  New  \'t)rker,  seventy-five  years 
old.  She  u^ed  to  do  sewing  and  tried  renting  furnished 
rooms,  but  wasn't  successful  and  had  no  savings  when 
she  stopped  regular  work.  She  has  now  three  rooms, 
rent  $i6.oo  a  month,  and  sublets  one  for  $10.00.  She 
gets  $8.(x^  a  month  for  church  sewing,  plus  an  outright 
gift  of  $2.(x^  a  month,  to  which  she  adds  with  occa- 
sional odd  jobs  of  sewing  and  washing.  She  feels  she 
really  earns  the  church  money  and  calls  herself  "  self- 
supporting."  She  won't  go  in  a  Home  yet,  but  realizes 
she  may  h.ave  to  do  so  some  day.  She  thinks  "  women 
with  husbands  ought  not  to  be  given  work,"  and  it  is 
true  that  an  aged  spinster  has  an  especially  hard  time 
economically. 

The  special  deduction  from  this  group  seems  to  be 
that  old  people,  even  when  helped  by  charity,  try  to  do 
what  thev  can  towards  their  own  support,  that  there 
isn't  that  easy  dependence  on  charit\'  so  many  people 
fear.  In  the  chapter,  "  Effects  of  Dependency,"  a  sample 
case  of  a  pauper  family  is  given,  1  family  (No.  28) 
riiincd  by  charity,  but  this  is  given  to  be  fair,  to  show 
all  sides — not  because  I  believe  it  represents  an  at  all 
large  class  of  people.  Such  a  class  I  believe  to  be  much 
smaller  than  is  usually  supposed.  It  was  at  any  rate 
the  only  example  among  my  one  hundred  cases  investi- 
gated. 


VI 


AGED  PFOPLE  SIPPDRTED  P.\RT[.Y  BY 

THEIR  FAMILIES  AND  PARTLY  BY 

CHARITY 

THIS  Kroiip  contains  thirteen  people.  They  arc 
^rouned  a'  follow!--,  with  their  last  occupations 
given  : 

Ten    liidou's: 

Three  did  washing. 
One  domestic  servant. 
One  factory  worker. 
l\vo  never  worked. 
Three  unclassified. 

One  single  ivoman  ; 
Unclassified. 


Tuo    couples: 
One  painter. 

One  in  appraiser's  store— keeper  at  Blackwells  Island. 

One  widow  (No.  75)  and  one  couple  (No.  26)  are 
described  in  the  chapter,  "  Dislike  of  Institutions";  two 
widows  (Nos.  3  and  28)  arc  described  in  the  chapter, 
"  Eftects  of  Dependency." 

The  following  descriptions  are  given  as  the  best  illus- 
trations of  their  group:  four  widows  and  the  single 
woman. 

No.  55 — Mrs.  A. 

Mrs.  A.,  Irish,  aged  sixty-five,  has  been  a  widow  for 
nmeteen  years.     She  used  to  work  in  a  crinoline  skirt 

39 


40 


sri'i'oR  ri  I)  i',\R'n.>  uy  'in fir 


fartorw  ^'cttin^  >I2.(X)  a  wcfk,  but  before  '>he  stopped 
slu-  not  onlv  54.(111  a  week  at  tlu-  Hutterick;  factory. 
Sbc  bail  a  fall  and  i^  feeble.  Sbc  bad  no  savinizs  wben 
slie  stopped  work.  Sbe  bves  uitb  bt  r  sister.  Tbc  sister, 
also  a  u  idow,  altboii^b  only  two  \ears  \ounfzei,  is 
stron^'er  and  bri^bter.  and  still  earns  money  at  o  Id 
jobs.  Sbe  was  a  milliner  and  also  worked  in  a  fruit 
store  and  a  pajn-r  factory.  A  cbaritable  society  belps 
w  itli  firoceries,  and  tbe  two  old  women  tbink  tliat  tb 
"  people  a'  tne  office  are  jiist  ^rand."  Wben  tbe  yolln^er 
one  can't  work,  it  looks  as  if  an  institutifin  is  all  tliat 
is  possible  for  tbem.  Cbaritable  societies  rarely  pension 
(dd  peojile  entirely,  and  as  Catbolics  tbey  can't  j^et  miicb 
belp  frf)m   tbeir  cburcb. 

\o.   14— Mrs.  /•'. 

Mrs.  F.  is  ,in  Italian,  aped  si\t\-t\\().  Sbe  lias  been 
a  widow  since  tbe  a^e  of  twenty-five.  Sbe  came  to 
America  eifibt  years  aj:o  to  join  a  prosperous  son,  but 
be  lias  been  stricken  witb  blindness.  Tbe  blind  son  is 
a  widower  witb  five  cliildren.  One  cbild  was  adopted. 
two  are  in  Homes,  and  tbe  f)tber  two  live  witb  ibeir 
fatber  and  frrandmotber.  One  is  sixteen  and  pets  Ss.<x^ 
a  week,  tbe  otber  is  fourteen  and  is  tr\in}z  fc^r  working! 
papers,  Anotber  pranddauKbter,  wbose  parents  are  in 
It.iK,  boards  witb  tbe  family.  Sbe  is  twent\-five  years 
old,  and  works  in  a  corset  factory.  A  cbaritable  associa- 
tion belps  out,  Apain  it  seems  as  if  tbc  burden  fell 
beavilv   v\^   tbc   voune. 


'So.  47 — Mrs.  jr. 

Mrs.  W.  i-  Irisli,  sixty-seven  years  old.  Sbc  isn't 
strong  pb\sically  or  mentally  and  cannot  work  any.  Her 
busband  was  an  iron-moulder,  who  died  seven  years 
apo.  Sbc  said  sbc  never  knew  how  much  he  earned ! 
Sbe  lives  witb  a  son  of  fourteen,  at  work,  and  a  feeble- 
minded dau^diter.  Anotber  feeble-minded  child  is  at 
Central  Islip.  Slie  is  helped  b\  a  cbaritable  .association, 
but  tiie  responsibility   for  tbc  \oi'nt:  son  seems  heavy. 


l-AMILIKS  AM)  PARTIA    I^'  CHARITY 
\o.  Kj — Mrs.  II. 


41 


Mrs.  H.  I  tuuiul  living'  with  a  daiit;litcr  \\\\n-~v  husbaiul 
IkuI  died  very  recently,  and  whose  son  ot  htteeii  was 
making  ^.^so  a  week.  L  nfurtunately  I  forgot  to  find 
out  it  the  daughter  who  was  looking'  tor  work  had  totmd 
any,  but  she  could  probably  find  soniethinji  in  time,  and 
the  church  to  which  th'-y  l-elon^i'd  wa-,  helping:  them. 
'I'hc  point  of  this  illu>tration  is  that  Mrs.  il.  has  been 
a  widow  for  twelve  \ears  and  her  husband  was  ill  for 
fifteen  years  before  he  died,  with  diabetes,  and  .Mr>.  U. 
lias  the  same  malady,  'llunk  of  the  burden  of 
illnesses,  for  poor  people! 


such  lonj; 


\o.  26~Miss  M. 

Miss  AI..  sixty  years  old,  born  in  New  '^'ork,  lives 
with  her  sister,  who  makes  >7.5()  a  week  at  a  collar  and 
cuft  laundry.  She  receives  help  from  her  church,  about 
^4.oo  a  week  from  sewinj^  and  outright  gifts.  She  has 
epilepsy  and  cannot  do  any  real  work,  if  it  were  not 
for  the  church's  assistance  it  would  be  i  very  difHcult 
case,  as  the  sister's  >7.5()  is  scarcely  enough  to  support 
two  people,  one  an  invalid.  She  is  rather  above  most 
of  the  people  in  this  investigation,  and  yet  not  equal  to 
some,  and  not  eligible  for  one  of  the  better-class  Homes, 
even  if  her  infirmity  did  not  bar  her  out. 

The  special  deductions  from  this  group  seem  to  be  that 
famil:.-;  do  not  take  more  outside  assistance  for  their 
aged  members  than  is  necessary,  and  that  churches  and 
charitable  societies  have  man>-  demands  for  help  for  the 
aged  which  they  consider  entirely  reasonable  and   right. 

The  few  men  in  these  last  two  groups,  and  the  next 
group,  will  be  commented  upon  in  the  conclusions  after 
the  next  group. 


VII 


I 


ACIKD    VV.iWU:    \V\\()]A.Y    DKIT.NUKNT   ON 

CHARITY' 


T 


HIS  tliaptcr  incliiilcs  two  ^rotips.  The  first 
t:ri)up  coiUains  nine  persons  with  their  past  occu- 
pations as  follows: 

Five    iLidoivs: 

Three  iliil  sewinfj. 
( )ne  milliner. 
( )ne   unclassified. 

riiKc  single  H'orncn: 

( )ne  sew  inc. 

( )ne  factory  work. 

One  fur  worker. 


One  couple: 
Shoemaker. 

Of  these,  two  widows  ( Xos.  4  and  29)  are  described 
in  the  chapter,  "Dislike  of  Institutions";  one  widow 
(No.  7)  is  described  in  the  chapter,  "Effects  De- 
pendency," and  one  sinjrle  woman  (No.  12)  in  the 
chapter,  "  Difficulties  of  Savinp." 

The  following  descriptions  are  piven  as  the  best  illus- 
trations of  their  group:  two  widows,  one  single  woman 
and  the  couple. 

Xo.  34— Mrs.  O'll. 

Mrs.  O'ti.  was  born  in  Ireland.  She  is  seventv',  and 
<;^^r»-,s;  ^yjaaT_  f\U i^^i\'o j 1 1/  .orj(|  H'^entriUv.  Hcr  husband  died 
thirty-four  years  ago.  She  lives  with  an  unmarried 
daughter    of    thirty.      An    unin.i^ried    son,    a    machinist, 

4a 


DEPKNDKNT  ()\  CHARITY  4^ 

ciiccJ  three  years  ago.     '1-he  dau^l.t.T  i,,ul  t-  ;,iv.-  up  f  u- 

the  cl,antal.lc  socctus  i.  lu-Ipin^  then.  The  clam-htc 
evidently  wasn't  a  had  case  of  tuhc-rcuh.Ms  .,  lu  ' 
s..ppo>ed  to  be  nearly  well;  hut  it  all  .e.nu-d  r  he 
hopeless  to  me.  ior  .t  the  daughter  ,oes  hack  to  work    n 

e  er  She  said  to  me,  "  1-actory  work  ,s  har.j-  imieed 
all  l.te  seems  ju.t  hurry  up,  hurry  up."  ' 

Mrs.  L.  was  horn  in  America,  and  is  a  widow,  aeed 

.0  after  her   husband's  death.      His  sickness  us  d    u 
h.s    money.      She    ranged    in    earninj^s    ,moxx)     ^,8.^ 

^a'^e'^of^'^r  ""   TV      '''^"   ''^   incapaatated'n:.w-b;: 
ause  of  sc.atica  and  rheumatism.     She  has  no  children 

a  one  in  a      furnished  room."     She  is  supported  by  her 
church,   which  pays  her  rent,  and  by  friends  Jho  con- 

e  said  '  T  ?^"  "■■^'"\'-^'  ^'^'""'^  ^''  --'^'''  f-d- 
Mie  said,       I   stinj,rer  m\  selt   as   mucli   as   possible  "      A 

working-woman    I    knew    well    vouched    for    her'  as    a 
thoroughly  hard-workinp,   admirable  woman. 

Xo.  2S~Miss  M. 

Miss  M.  lives  in  proud  isolation,  scorning  her  neigh- 
bors, for.  as  she  said  to  me  one  dav,  "  How  would  ou 
l.ke  to  live  with  people  a  class  below  yours?"     She    ns 

v^h  the  woman  next  door,  who  is  supported  by  the 
same  church!  She  said  of  this  neighbor,  '•  She  insul  ed 
me  one  day.  and  I  sent  her  out  of  mv  room  and  told 
her  nev-er  to  come  back,"  adding  with  tears  in  her  ev^s 

.hn     K  t'"'  '"'"^^'^  '"'^   ''y   ^"  P"  ""^  to  see  people 
though  I  m  too  nervous  to  see  people  who  irritate  me  " 

r^;^^  t  'z::''n  i^^-  -^  -^  ^-^'^  -^i 

"^n  better  days,"thechurdr  toVhich^Srbe^ng'i: 
most  generous  to  her.  spending  upon  her  about  $25.0!. 


44 


A(;i,l)   IMOIM.l.  WIIOI.I.^ 


\4 


a  mnntli  lor  rent,  tuod,  luat,  cti .  In  lontrast  to  others 
in  tlic  lioiisi-  sin-  In  vci\  luinlnitaMi',  but  vlic  tloc^  iiot 
think  ^l^c  is  conitortahU' ;  lu-r  si.()in  ot  hor  Mirmundin^is 
is  intense.  Her  tatlier  v.  a^  in  luiMne^s,  hut  tailed  w  lien 
she  was  eleven  \ears  old.  Without  any  real  trauiinii 
she  \\(jrked  in  store-,  anil  tactorie-.  and  ;.  one  time  earned 
:r>i8.<)0  a  week,  in  seasonal  work,  but  eii:ht  years  a^() 
she  had  to  stop  work  on  aeeount  ot  her  poor  e\csi^ht. 
She  can't  see  to  read  nuuh  now.  says  sIr-  repeats  poetry 
she  learned  when  a  child  in  Canada,  and  she  p)es  to 
lectures  at  the  public  schools,  etc.  She  once  s.iid,  "  I 
used  to  iio  to  lectures  at  sciiool — but  the  only  lectures 
they  have  now  are  ti'mmniial,  and  I  have  enough  of 
that  at  home,  and  1  don't  like  it!"  She  is  a  keen  ob- 
server of   cliaracter,   and   one   day   in   commenting;   upon 

one  of  her  church  visitors,  she  said,   "  .Miss  never 

lost  herself  " — a  rather  neat  comment  on  self-control,  I 
thought!  With  all  her  loneliness  and  nnhappiness  she 
won't  t;o  into  a  Home,  and  it  is  fortunate  she  is  a  mem- 
ber of   a  church  able  to  support  her. 

^'o.  46— Mr.  J'. 
Perhaps  old  Mr.  and  Mrs.  V.  do  take  charity  a 
little  easily  now.  having'  lost  the  capacity  to  provide  for 
themselves  years  a\i.o.  H  you  were  seventy-seven  and 
partly  paraly/ed,  wouldn't  \ou  feel  as  if  someone  ou^ht 
to  take  care  of  you,  and  if  you  had  no  cluldren,  or  any- 
one to  depenil  upon,  wouldn't  you  fall  back  on  charity 
and  finally  get  used  to  it?  I  can't  put  Mr.  V.  quite  in 
the  "  pauper  class."  He  was  born  in  Germany,  where 
he  learned  the  trade  of  shoemaker,  and  he  worked  in 
Sw  itzerland  .'.  id  Krance  before  coming  to  America. 
When  he  had  to  give  up  working  he  had  $=icx>  saved, 
but  of  course  that  would  not  last  so  very  long.  A 
Home  that  sometimes  gives  outside  aid  gives  him  and 
liis  wife  $15.00  a  month.  They  pay  $5.00  a  month  for 
two  rooms  in  a  rear  tenement  ground-floor,  damp  and 
drafty.  That  leaves  $io.cx^  a  month  for  some  food  and 
fuel,  lifht,  clothes,  etc.  Another  charity  gives  hem 
weekly  groceries  and  occasional  gifts,  but  is  trying  to 
persuade  them  to  go  into  a  Home.     However,  they  pre- 


di:pi:nui:nt  o\  charity  45 

fcr  t..  he  together  .-.rul  independent,  nc  matter  how  un- 
ccMnfortable.     What  a  trave>t>  on  Ur..vvnings  words, 

"  f  irow  idd  alon(<;  with  me, 
[I'hc  hev.t  is  yet  to  he, 
The  last  of  life,  for  wh    n  the  first  was  made!" 

this  picture   is,   of  coKJ,   half-starved   peonie,    with   lives 
I'inpt),  forlorn  and  neglected! 

The  special  deduction  from  this  ^jroup  seems  to  be 
that  people  who  are  given  entire  support  by  charitable 
socet.es  and  churches  really  do  need  .t.  None  of  the 
people  m  this  group  are  really  to  blame  for  their  de- 
pendence. 

I  was  impressed  by  the  f.act  that  I  found  a  number  of 
suigle  women  and  widows,   but  few  men,  living  alone 
and    that    I    found    more    women    than    men    that   were 

have   n\r    ''      "'"^      \  T"^'^'^   '^  "''"'   ^'^^  ^^'^'^^^Y 
have  not   as   much   of    the   "home-making   instinct"   as 

vvon.en  and  therefore  would  not  try  to  live  alone,  cook- 
mg  for  themselves,  would  drift  out  of  (ireenwich  Vil- 
lage, down  to  the  cheap  Howery-  hotels  and  lodging- 
houses.  Hut  a  clerk  in  a  cheap  men's  hotel  in  lower 
Greenwich  \  illage  said  that  his  place  was  as  cheap  as 
those  in  the  Kowerj,  and  that  I  ml  rememb  that  men 
mcapaotated  for  work  and  without  wives,  children  or 
MS  ers,  were  apt  to  give  up  and  go  to  the  Island,  and 
that  men  of  the  very  poorest  classes  often  drank  heavily 
and  died  early.  I  heretore  the.e  are  not  as  many  elderly 
men  helped  by  outdoor  charitv  as  women. 

Later  at  a  men's  hotel,  of  a  slightly  better  grade  on 
S.xtn  Avenue  I  did  learn  that  there  were  a  good  manj 
men  there  over  sixty,  able  to  work  a  little,  so  it  is  true 
that  instead  of  trying  to  live  alone,  if  they  have  a  1  tt^e 
money  men  go  to  a  hotel. 

It   can   easily   be   understood    that   more   elderly   poor 

iXTh  T  "''""''^i^  ^^  "^embers  of  churches  and 
helped  by  them.  One  church  in  Greenwich  Villaee  has  n 
i.>..  u.  ar.Gut  twenty  elderly  women  who  are  partly  or 
wholly  dependent  on  the  church's  bounty,  and  Vy  are 
an  especially  deserving  group  ^ 


«iii 


k«m 


■tor 


46 


A(;i.i)  ri  oiM.i.  wiioj.Lv 


And  it  i^  easy  to  mx-  that  single  pcrsDns  arc  iiiorr 
apt  to  !)('  ilf|)fiiiliTit  tli.iii  |u-uplc  uitli  (.liil.ltcii,  and  rs- 
pi-iially  siii^lf  ui.incii,  Ixwium-  tlic\  an-  more  iiiix'lli^h, 
as  a  wlidlc,  m  lulpint,'  thru  relatives  troin  time  to  time 
and  therefore  less  ajU  to  aieiimulate  savings. 

And  tliere  are  nian>  uichivvs  w  ho>e  ihddren  are  dead, 
and  their  position  is  min.h  like  that  of   sinj^jf  women. 

And  then,  too,  there  a  ni.iny  married  women  who 
have  never  worked,  or  at  least  not  during  their  hiis- 
ha.'d's  lifetime,  who  find  it  ditlicult  to  support  them- 
selves after  their  hiishand's  death.  Thcjse  who  have 
worked  before  marriage  t.'enerall>  e.innot  nn  hack  to  the 
same  kind  of  work,  having;  lost  in  eflicicncy  during  the 
intervening'  years,  except  in  unskilled  work  like  scriib- 
hinj:  offices,  etc. 

Apparently  the  poorer  woi kinsmen  can't  or  won't 
keep  up  lite  insurance, — proli.ihly  tliey  can't,  most  of 
tliem, — and  often  men  better  off  won't,  so  wiiious  of 
men  with  i;ood  wa^es,  and  sometimes  of  men  w  ith  j^ood 
salaries,   arc  utterly   destitute. 

1  he  subject  of  the  cost  of  maintenance  of  people  out- 
side of  institutions  is  discussed  in  the  chapter,  "  Dislike 
of  Institutions." 

The  second  }j;roup  in  this  chapter  perhaps  really  does 
not  belong;  here.  It  is  a  ^'roiip  of  people  who  receive 
U.  S.  Army  pensions,  who  otherwise  would  necessarily 
be  entirely  supported  by  charity.  Of  the  one  hundred 
investigated  three  others  than  those  in  this  proiip  re- 
ceived U.  S.  .\rmy  pensions,  but  as  they  w  ere  also  helped 
by  their  families  they  are  included  in  the  group,  "  Aged 
People  Supported  Partlv  bv  Their  Families  and  Partlv 
by  Charity." 

This  group  numbers  six  persons  as  follows,  with  last 
occupations: 

Five  uiJoii's: 

One  never  worked. 

One  tailoress. 

C'ne  dressmaker. 

One  did  washing  and  janitrcss  work. 

One  unclassified. 


ni  I'KMJKNT  ON  CHARITY 


47 


(hif  liitJ'tntr: 
Worked  in  Nav>   \.itd.  .irui  on  hrid^'cs. 

( )nc  uulow  (  No.  ,)it)  is  (ic^iriM  in  t!ic  chnptcr, 
''Causes  ot  Dfpendfncv,"  and  the-  uidinvcr  (No.  ()>,) 
in    tliL-  cliaptrr,    "  Ditraultics  dt    Saving. " 

As  an  illustration  ot  this  group,  the  following  descrip- 
tion \>  given  as  tjpical: 

\o.  SS—Mrs.  r. 

Mrs.   P.   I  uict  on  the  street  and,  .after  some  eonvcrsa- 
tion,   accompanied    to   lier   lioine.      She   is    Irish,   seventy- 
seven  years  old.     She  was  a  tadores>  betore  she  married. 
Her  hushand  \v.i>  a  hrass  htiisher.      He  was  in  the  Civil 
War    for    three   years,    during    which    time    had    kidney 
trouble   developed,    so   that   atteiward    he   couM   do   very 
little  work.     After  his  death   Mrs.    1».  did   washing  and 
iromn^i,   but   now  she  has   severe   rheumatism   and   can't 
work.     She  had  four  chiKlren:  one  was  lost  in  the  army, 
one   is   in   an   asylum,    two   d.iu^diters   live    in    Hrooklyn! 
but  evidently  can't  or  won't  help  her.     A  Krandson  lives 
with   her  and   p.ays  >4.,m)  a  week   board,   but  pr.actically 
the  pension  supports  her.     (The  usual  L".  S.  war  pension 
tor  a  widow  is  ijiii.oo  a  month.) 

The  special  deductifjn  from  this  frroup  see.-Tis  to  be 
that  as  these  few  pe<jple  actually  need  their  war  pensions, 
perhaps  others  rcceivinfi  u.ir  pensions  do  also.  Hut  in 
no  way  do  I  wish  to  seem  to  approve  the  reckless  exten- 
sion of  our  war  pensions,  .is  I  know  that  many,  many 
people  receive  them  who  do  not  need  them. 

The  question  naturally  arises  why  the  victims  of  war 
and  their  wives  should  receive  pensions  any  more  than 
industrial  victims.  In  this  connection  I  wish  to  quote 
from  Jacob  H.  Hollander's  recent  book,  "The  Abolition 
of  Poverty."  He  sa\s  (p.  ,05):  "A  verv  considerable 
part  of  those  in  receipt  of  pensions  lie  without  the 
r.anks  of  the  aped  poor,  and.  on  the  other  hand,  certain 
laree  cater^ories  from  wlioni  thi'.  r!'!';<:  •■,  l-.r:Ti=!-.-  ^-.-.^..u  ..' 
are  entirely  excluded  from  the  benefits  o?  the  pension 
system.      The   real   significance  lies   in   the   f.act  that   the 


w 


\M 


48 


AGED  PEOPLE 


Unif-.d  States  has  for  nearly  two  generations  been  mak- 
ing  penerous  expenditures — in  19 12  the  cost  of  the  pen- 
sion system  was  $i5J,(XX),ooo,  about  three  times  as  great 
as  that  of  the  British  old-age  pension  system — which, 
even  though  originally  inspired  by  other  considerations, 
have  as  their  actual  consequence  the  relief  of  a  material 
part  of  existing  old-age  dependence.  Both  in  fiscal  pro- 
vision and  in  public  preparedness,  the  way  has  been  paved 
for  a  transit'on  to  a  more  comprcliensive,  a  more  equi- 
table, and  prtbably  a  more  economical,  system  of  old-age 
provision." 


\m 


I 


VIII 
CAUSES  OF  DEPENDENCY  OF  THE  AGED 

T"nm,i'r7o°l  "^'^"'^'  dependency  are  found  upon 
inquiry  to  be  many  and  varied,  and  upon  the 
uhole  much  more  pardonable  than   wou  d  seem 

to"the'Jr^'"-  D^P-'^-'T  can  be  traced  prilcipa^ 
to  the  following  causes:  (i)  to  lack  of  proper  industra^ 
trainmg  m  youth;  (2)  to  low  wages  during  the  en t  re 
working  penod;   (3)    to  the  specialization  oV.ndus"; 

over  a  falX  lonT^'T'  ^  "--- ^^">'-'^"^  ^^^«^^chhg 
over  a  tairly  long  penod  of  time;  (5)  to  diseases  cn.s^^ 

by  under-nourishment.  overcrowding  and  ovemrainM 

o  dangerous  occupations  and  indifstrial  ace  den  "•'     7 

naturall?';;'''^  feebleness  and  inefficiency  which  old  ag 

for  eve^-f^ n,T'  '"/"'"^  '"^  '"  ^'^"^"^  estimation! 
tor  even  if  old  people  are  not  weak  and  inefficient  theJ 

ferred"  .^°"^'^7^^   '^"^  >«unger  men   especially  are  pre- 

out"the-oldTr'?8  [%"'/''  ^"""^"  ^^""■^^'^  --"« 
mittne  older ,  (8)   to  intemperance,  althousjh,  as  Frank 

H.  Streightoff  says  ,n  "  The  Standards  of  L^ing  Amone 

the  Industrial  People  of  America"  (r,    1.7^ "' Al     u^ 

living-td7T/"il  t  f-'  "f  bar^cl;ditfonf 0I 
I'vmg  and  (9)  to  the  death  of  the  breadwinner  of  the 
family   leavmg  farnilies  unable  to  support  then"  Ives 

Before  g.vmg  illustrations  from  the  lives  of  peonle 
with  whom  I  came  in  contact  during  the  investiSn 
I  wish  to  quote  from  two  writers  on^his  subject^  Th' 
fir  t  quotation  re  ers  to  dependent  widows  vJfth  voune 
ch.ldren,  but  really  it  is  also  applicable  to  older  peoT 
and  sums  up  the  general  causes  of  povcrtv  whirh  n^ 
cour«.  eventually-  make  older  people  dependent     Fdward 

I^s'^RelaHnrto  ■;    ^^'^"V'  '"  Investigation  onxTt' 
rers  Keiatmg  to  the  Care,  Treatment,  and  Rel.Vf  of  rv 

(PP    3"   36)f ""'     "''^'     ^^P^-d.nt     Children,""'    says 

49 


II 


I 


^0 


CAUSKS  OF  DKPENDENCV 


I 


.'I 


"  The  second  explanation  to  be  considered  for  the  lack 
of  improvement  in  some  families — and  here  we  are  upon 
surer  ground — is  that  the  overwhelming  ni;iss  of  human 
misery,  of  which  the  suffering  and  dependence  in  these 
few  thousand  families  of  widows  is  but  a  part,  is  the 
result  of  cau-^es  and  conditions  with  which  both  volun- 
tary charity  and  public  relief  as  such  are  powerless  to 
deal.  Tuberculosis,  typhoid,  fatal  industrial  injuries,  in- 
sufficient pay,  economic  inefficiency,  the  physical  strain  of 
overwork,  the  exploitation  of  the  vices  and  weaknesses 
of  men  and  women  for  commercial  profit,  are  all  sub- 
jects with  which  social  workers  in  the  charitable  societies 
arc  deeply  concerned,  but  for  which  remedies  lie  in 
other  and  more  powerful  hands.  Concerning  the  great 
creative  forces  of  the  misery  which  they  are  called  upon 
to  investigate  and  relieve  in  individual  instances  they  can 
only  lift  up  their  voices  in  eloquent  testimony.  They 
may  testify  also,  as  has  been  intimated,  to  human  weak- 
nesses, to  lack  of  energ>'  ana  resi^tance,  to  the  fact  that 
some  h.uman  beings  are  apparently  from  their  birth 
doomed  to  failure  in  any  severe  life-struggle.  Hut  they 
may  well  be  appalled  when  they  see  such  weaker  per?-  ns, 
and  others  not  by  any  means  unfit  for  any  reasonable 
.struggle,  subjected  to  uncontrolled  infection,  to  over- 
crowding, to  overwork,  and  injurious  strain,  to  fiendish 
temptations  such  as  the  strongest  could  not  resist  imder 
similar  circumstances,  to  a  necessity  of  paying  the  highest 
price  for  inferior,  diluted  and  polluted  commodities  and 
services.  .'>nd  to  furtlu-r  necessity  of  providing  from  their 
own  insufficient  resources  and  by  their  own  inadequate 
efforts,  for  such  contingencies  as  sickness  and  death  in 
the  family,  for  childbirth,  for  infirmity  and  old  age,  for 
unemployment,  whether  due  to  personal  fault  and  in- 
eflicier.;y  or  to  industrial  causes  affecting  an  entire  group 
or  an  entire  community  of  workers.  Tie  large  lesson 
to  be  learned  from  any  such  study  of  the  widows'  prob- 
lems as  has  been  made  for  this  committee  is  that  of  the 
re^ponsibility  of  the  community  for  much  of  the  larger 
part  of  the  sickness,  death  and  dependence  which  con- 
stitute that  prohkin,  and  tlie  utter  inadequacy  of  ci'Jicr 
public  or  voluntary  relief  as  a  solution  of  that  problem. 


.    ii'- 


OF  THE  AGED  5, 

Until  tlic  community  responsibilities  for  the  social  and 
industrial  cat.se.  of  poverty  are  more  fully  met  it  will  be 
unreasonable  to  expect  cither  public-relief  officials  or 
voluntary  aRcncies  to  secure  a  reasonable  standard  of 
mnK  or  normal  family  life  ,or  any  lar^e  proportion  of 
those  ^^  horn  they  seek  to  aid.  The  charitable  aj^encies 
do  however  come  to  have  a  lar^e  amount  of  valuable 
CMdence  of  the  need  for  pre^entive  social  measures,  and 
the.r  leaders  have  been  conspicuous  in  initiatinr  and 
advocatmp  such  action." 

The  second  quotation.  alth..u;,di  it  refers  especially  to 
"Id  men.  can  be  applied  also  to  old  women 

In  the  book  "  One  Thousand  Homeless  Alen."  by  Alice 
U.  SolenberRer,   m  the  chapter  on   Homeless  Old    Men 
(p.   112),  she  says:  ''  i:iKht>-/ive  of  the   i.?2,  as  h.as  been 
said,  were  of  good  character  and  liabits.  and  had  always 
previous   to   the  advent  of  old   a^e,   been   self-respecting 
and    fully    self-supporting    memlH-rs    of    society       With 
these  rnen   the  causes   which   were   apparently' most   re- 
sponsible  for   thnr   final    dependence   were    (i)    the    re- 
ceipt of   irregular  and   insufficient  wages  over  a  period 
of  years,  which  made  saving  for  age  difficult  if  not  im- 
possible;   (2)     the    rearing   of    families    which    had    ex- 
hausted  resources  and   in  the  end  left  no  member  able 
to  care  for  the  parents;   (3)    impracticability  or  lack  of 
business  sense,    on  the  part  of  upriju  and  industrious 
n^on;    (4)    loss  of  savings  through   bank   failures;    ( -.) 
business  reverses  for  uhich  the  men  themselves  could  not 
be   blamed;    (6)    ,11-health  or  crippling  accidents  which 
destroye.l    earning   capacit>-   before   sufficient   savings   for 
age  had  been  accumulated,  and  a  few  other  miscellaneous 
causes,  none  of  which  indicated  failure  upon  the  part  of 
the  men  themselves  to  do  their  be^t  during  their  working 
years  to  prepare  for  onf-oming  age." 

Here  are  a  icw  illustrations  from  the  hundred 
studied  in  this  investigation,  which  best  show  some  of 
the  causes  of  dependency  mentioned. 

Xrj.  sS—Afrs.  C. 

Airs.     C     IS    n     nnti»-<>     Ai>i«r.'.>T,      — „i  .        •    i 

CI      1  ■; <--.a:^    .:-eii    ;>"vcntv-cigni. 

i5he  has  never  done  any   regular  work.      Her   husband 


52 


CAUSES  OF  DEPENDENCY 


|s:^ 


i' 


worked  in  the  Knickerbocker  Ice  Co..  but  was  killed 
thirty-seven  years  apo  in  an  accident.  The  firm  paid  her 
S.^oo  and  took  her  oldest  child  of  seventeen  (she  had  five 
younger  children)  into  their  cmplov.  and  he  became  a 
bookkeeper.  She  has  three  children  living;  three  daugh- 
ters, two  of  whom  are  married,  and  she  lives  with  the  un- 
married one,  who  makes  only  $7.00  a  week.  Perhaps  the 
married  daughters  contribute  something  to  the  mother's 
.support,  but  she  says,  "  I  don't  know  what  I  would  do 
if  It  weren't  for  this  daughter,"  referring  to  the  un- 
married one.  Of  course  nowadays  in  New  York  a  firm 
would  have  to  provide  an  annuity  for  such  a  widow,  but 
this  is  not  yet  the  case  in  most  American  states. 

No.  go — Mrs.  R. 

Mrr-,.  R.,  horn  in  the  United  States,  is  seventy  years 
old,   a  widow  who  has  never  worked    any.      Her   hus- 
band was  a  church  sexton  and  Civii   War  veteran  who 
died  SIX  months  ago  after  an   illness  lasting  five  years. 
They  had  no  children  and  had  saved  moncv,  but  that  was 
lost  in  an  unfortunate  investment.     She  is  lame,  having 
fallen  and  broken  her  hip.    Her  two  sisters,  both  widows, 
can  t  help  her,  and  she  gets  along  on  the  $12.00  a  month 
war  pension  with  a  little  help  from  her  church.     As  she 
says    it  is  difficult  to  pay  rent  and  for  coal  and  food  out 
of   $12.00   a   month.      She   has   two   tinv   rooms   in    an 
attic    for   $6.00   a    month    and    lives    alone.      She   says, 
UTiat  would  I  do  without  the  pension?  "     She  did  not 
say  what  the  investment  was  or  how  it  was  lost. 

No.  36— Mrs.  Q. 

Mrs.  Q.  is  English.  She  came  to  America  when 
thirn-eight,  and  is  now  over  si.xty;  still  she  hasn't  grown 
at  all  American,  and  seems  to  have  walked  straight  out 
from  the  pages  of  a  Dickens  novel.  She  is  in  good 
physical  and  mental  condition:  indeed,  she  is  reallv 
clever.  At  one  time  she  did  drink  quite  a  little,  but  has 
straightened  up  again.  She  is  supported  largely  by 
cfiurch  seAving  and  gifts  from  friends,  but  in  the  sum- 
mer has  a  position  at  a  Fresh-Air  Home.     She  says  she 


'W^mk^m^m 


OF  THE  AGED  53 

is  on  the  ''  nipht-vvatch  "  for  three  months.  She  lives 
a  one,  but  has  numerous  friends  at  settlements  as  well  as 
at  her  church  After  a  curious  career  she  is  now  satisfied 
and  happy  She  feels  she  has  alwavs  worked  hard  and 
now  that  she  can't  do  any  regular  work  she  feels  it  right 
for  the  church  to  help  her.  Her  father  was  a  pawn- 
broker   and  she  was  always  comfortable  at  home      She 

AmeWc.  '  f^'^'^ri^Y'  ^^^'^^^'-'  -'i  they  came  to 
b  Amen--.  ';h"t",'^  apparently  never  worked  much 
n  Ameraa.  She  had  two  successful  little  dr>-goods 
stores^^  sa.d  she  sometimes  made  $200  a  month,  but  lost 
nnko  '"  u"  •"'''^^t"?r"f-  H"  husband  made  her  very 
unhappy;  he  was  wild  and  unfaithful  to  her,  and  2 
extravagant  he  used  up  all  hc-r  savings.    After  lis  death^ 

Turnthe'd"  '  ^T'   "'if^   ^°  ^"-    ^^^   tried   runnrnga 
furmshed-room   house,    but   was   not   ver>-   successful   in 

seYf    7eoT  '"''^r^'  r.'  "P  ^^'"^  »°  support  her 
luA         ^u    "u'  'J'^P.  ^"''"S  ^°^^'    fo"-  her,  and  are 
V  cissiL'es      .h^'  '^""'^  ^'  '''  ^'^^y'  '^'"  her  many 

nff    rs  .t  her  .h      T'  J"   "^'''"^  ."'^^^'"^  ^"^   ^^^'^hle 
attairs  at  her  church  and  two  settlements,  and  is  always 

an    important  figure.      Her   appreciation   of   speeches   is 

unusually  keen,  and  she  is  always  impressive  and  ente 

The"'had1n""^''^   "■^"•^'  ^'-  "'"^^   '■"  ^"  ^«--"n%' 
It  she  had  to  go  away  to  an  institution. 

A'o.  78— Mrs.  T. 
Mrs.  T.  is  Irish,  slxt>',  and  a  widow.  She  used  to 
work  m  a  store,  and  then  as  .  chambermaid  in  rhotel 
at  $.ac)o  a  month  with  board.  She  hasn't  been  abfe 
to  work  for  ten  years,  as  she  has  had  kidney  trouble  and 
varicose  v-ems  and  suffers  a  great  deal.     She  lives  with  a 

sixty  and  makes  only  $7.00  a  week.     Mrs.  T    has  no 
other  relatn-es.  and  appreciates  her  cousin's  kindness  ver^ 
much.     The  cousm  also  pavs  for  Mrs.  T.'s  insurance 
the  principal  of  which  is  soon  due.     Perhaps  th"t  wHl 

tt'^'^uS^' rtf'  t  'T"  can't'^tork  U' 
IZu    V''-  ^•-   ^''^'  ^"  dependence  verv  much,   but 


V. 

I! 


54 


CAUSKS  OF  DKPENDKXCY 


.5: 


i-Cki- 


A'o.  97— Mr.  T. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  live  with  an  unmarried  daughter 
ot  nineteen  who  works  in  a  biscuit  factory,  and  thev  have 
a  boarder.  Mr.  T.  was  born  in  New'^ork  sixty-two 
\cars  ago.  He  worked  in  a  tobacco  factory,  where  he 
made  $12.00  to  $14.00  a  week  until  five  years  ago,  when 
his  hands  were  injured.  His  wife  said  he  "  feels  bad 
because  he  can't  work."  but  really  there  are  f'-w  thines 
that  a  man  of  sixty-two  with  deformed  hands  can  do. 
He  miKht  be  a  "  ticket-chopper  "  on  the  elevated  road, 
but  these  jobs  are  difficult  to  pet.  or  he  mipht  have  some 
sort  of  street  stand,  but  these  take  money  to  start. 

No.  QJ—Mr.  S. 

Mr.  S.,  Irish,  a  widower,  aged  seventv-eiKht,  is  deaf 
and  feeble  .and  unable  to  work.  He  was  a  baker,  but  had 
to  give  up  his  trade  on  account  of  sickness  fifteen  years 
ago.  He  made  $I3.0(^  to  $15.00  a  week,  hut  had  no 
savings  when  he  stopped.  Ur  lives  with  his  sifter  (all 
his  other  relatives  arc  dead),  who  keeps  boarders  and 
supports  him  as  well  as  herself.  She  said  that  her  brother 
worked  as  long  as  he  could,  but  now  takes  his  dependency 
on  her  as  natural,  and  she  feels  it  is  "  rather  hard." 

No.  32— Mr.  Mcf. 

Mr.  McI.  is  both  typical  and  unique— typical  in  that 
he  represents  a  cla<s  of  men  thrown  out  of  employment, 
partly  by  being  pushed  out  by  younger  men  and  partly 
by  having  a  trade  that  is  growing  obsolete,  and  unique 
because   of  his   present   mode  of   existence  and  support. 
He  IS  a  nativ-e  New  ^'orkcr,  single,  aged  sixty-seven.     He 
IS  in  good  physical  and  mental  condition.     I  made  only 
one  call  on  him  and  his  sister,   but  was  so  entertained 
1  wished  to  go  again.     I  found  her— she  is  seyent;-three 
—cooking  the  dinner,  and  he  was  sewing  on  the  machine 
doing  seumg  given   to  his  sister  by  the  church.     When 
I  asked  how  he  was  able  to  do  that  kind  of  sewing  he 
told  me  his  story.     As  a  young  man  he  had  tuberculosis 
and  when  he  recovered  he  could  nor  do  he.-iw  v.ork    go 
he  hecame  a  woman's  dressmaker   (not  tailor)    and'^fol- 


■cfc#=;;-. 


*>J 


OF  THK  AGFD 


55 


lowed  that  trade  for  thirty-four  years.     He  spoke  with 
pride  of  dressmaking  done  for  actresses,  such  minor  ones 
that  I   failed  to  recognize  their  names,  hut  tried  not  to 
show   my    ignorance,      fie   showed   me  a   waist  he   had 
made  his  sister,  as  a  sample  of  his  work,  and  it  was  cer- 
tainly a  marvelous  creation.     Hut  he  said,   "  Nowadays 
people   huy   ready-made  clothing;   it's  cheaper."     So  he 
gets  work  only  occasionally.     He  and  his  sister  have  two 
rooms  for  $ii.oo  a  month,  and  she  gets  $j.oo  worth  of 
sewing  a  week  and  a  gift  of  fifty  cents  a  week,  which 
prohably  pays  the  rent  and  for  her  fooii,  and  he  probably 
makes  enough   for  his  food.     And   he  does  most  of  her 
sewing.      He   is  said   to  be   a   kind   good   man.   and   his 
pride,  though  amusing,  also  has  something  fine  about  it— 
to  love  work,  even  if  dressmaking  work,  is  to  share  in 
the  dignity  of  labor  to  some  extent!     He  is  still  proud 
of  his  profession  and  of  his  figure,  and  his  small  wrist, 
and  he  is  bright  and  cheerful,  and  he  and  his  sister  seem' 
happy  together.     Hut  if  it  were  not  for  the  church  assist- 
ance what  would  they  do? — for  neither  could  really  earn 
money  at  regular  work. 

Of  course  the  localitj-  of  Greenwich  Village  and  the 
limited  number  of  people  studied  cannot  furnish  illus- 
trations of  all  the  causes  of  dependency,  but  these  de- 
scriptions are  given  as  examples  of  some  of  the  causes, 
and  other  experiences  and  testimony  bear  out  the  facts 
stated  at  the  beginning  of  the  chapter. 

At  the  Salvation  Army  headquarters  in  Greenwich 
Village  I  was  told  that  the  men  who  applied  there  for 
work  confessed  that  they  d\ed  their  hair  to  appear 
younger,  and  that  men  were  often  thrown  out  of  work, 
not  because  of  incompetence,  but  simplv  because  of  their 
age. 

One  woman  nearly  sixty  (No.  41  in  Chapter  IV^) 
told  me  that  during  a  slack  season  she  was  laid  off  her 
usual  job  and  tried  to  work  elsewhere,  and  that  she 
found  it  difficult  to  compete  with  young  women ;  as  she 
sadly  said,  "  I  find  they  can  work  faster;  I  fear  !  can't 
hold  the  job."  Later,  much  to  her  relief,  she  was  called 
back  to  her  old  place.    She  is  well  and  strong,  but  simply 


56 


CALSr.S  OK  DKPKNDKNCY 


N 


Iinsn't   the   nerves  or   the  skillful   fingers   for  the  speed 
which  modern  in.lustrv  (iemands. 

At  St  \incent-s  Hospital  I  was  told  that  few  elderly 
np,  applied  at  the  dispensary,  because  "  The  majority 
o     men    m    CreenwKh    Village    are    longshoremen'  and 

In-t^oftTdTe  :";lv!!'^  "'""^  '''  ""^  ""'>•  '"J"'^^  "^^-• 
A  tenement  inspector  told  me  "  Afany  of  the  women 

n  (.reenw.ch  \  ,1  age  do  laundry  work  and  that  leads 

to  rheumatism  and  liright's  disease  " 

Some  men  do  change  from  one  kind  of  work  to  an- 
other,  m  an   ascendmg  and   then  a  descending  scale  of 
wages,  hut  so,„e  men  who  have  all  their  lives  done  bu 
one  kmd  of   work,   when  that  line  is  obsolete  or  ove  - 
crowded,   know  nothing  else  to  do,   and  can   find   only 

he  poorest  kjnd  of  badly  paid  work  to  go  into-if  they 

tionrXt;y.'''^'^""^"^^''^--'^^'^^-^P^^^^^^^^^^ 
As  an  example  of  this  there  is  the  following  story 
Two  or  three  years  ago  the  husband  in  a  little  famlJ 
I  wa  mterested  m.  .n  Greenwich  Village,  lost  his  job 
■n  a  tobacco  factory   where  he  had  been  practically  eler 

firm  f  ile  ^''  A^^''  \!'  ""  "°^  ^ischarged-bitX 
rm  faded.  He  was  about  twenty-eight  years  old,  born 
of  Italian  parents  m  this  country,  undersized  and  nnf 
strong  how  could  he  be?  he  hid  scare  ly  ever  had 
c  n    Ld    ^^''•'  ■V?"'-"?-P  ^ood).     His  wife,'an  Amer^ 

wo  c hihiren      'i  '"  '^u  '*'"^'  ^•''^^''^>-  ^'  '^"^'''  but  had 
uo  children  and  another  one  was  expected.     The  man 

fT.K?      /     help  him   find   work.      Finally    I  enlisted 
he  help  of  a  workingman,  who  interviewed  a  boss  ha 
factory  ^^here  he  had  once  worked,  in  behalf  of  Mr.  G 

nad    no   skill    ^^hatever   except   m    his   own    line.      The 
older  workingman  said.   "  I'm   trying  hard   to  get  that 
voung  fel  ow  a  job;  he  is  just  the  kind  that  should  no 
he  out  of  work   long.      He   will   get  discouraged    and 
t:l^'^?  tr^-'i     ^.■?^">'  ^he  church  Lok  hTm 

-nywo.h:-He'h:dn:^i^;;:tir'aj^;i::::^r:s 


t\^■" 


:*':-^z^: 


^ffff? 


■•^ -£»;"- 


OF  THE  AG1:d  5^ 

t.ons.    and    very    frequently    in    t  e^        "i^'f?'  7"'''; 

formed  is-  '•01?'^?    T'"'"'  "'  ""  ""^'«  ""•>  <"•!"- 
coun,  can  get     Vl    !'■■  T  "'??  "''"  '*  "'  ""V  -'^- 

hard  ,„  finV^'oSl/trnpe';'  ,',;,:;r>:'Za"""^ 

n>a„'h"'an;S'good  job   T  """''  "'"  °"'^"  ''  ' 

]^?^';i'-Se?™i"H-"i;- 

IS  deadened.  "''  "'=*  ambition 

A  worlcingman   (not  in  \'pw  \"rvri-    u  *  .i 
is  no  doubt  Universal)     aid  once\o  „,e    f'S  '  "'7"?" 
men  at  the  works  thought  I  u"i  cr^/rto  ri  t'"'  "^  ''" 
my  job  there  till  I  had  another  on    ^^       i        ^,"'"K  "P 

erty  makes  cowards  of  tJen''     Zt  thT"'^"'^  ''^^Lr^' 
take   the  ri^lr   o„^  ,      "^  ""^  '"''>"  ^vas  ab  e  to 

stay  ,n  one  position,  or  one  kind  of  InX     ul       .'"'" 
pendeno^  '       '   '"'"'^   ""^^=^   °^    d^* 


£13^E^:^X!^i 


!^s&ajPBaasgaBW«gS8g?t> 


IX 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  SAVING  FOR  OLD  AGE 


i 

n 


}-i 


IN    the  prcccdiriK  chapter   the  subject  of   low   wages 
was   touched    upon,    but    I    wish    to   dwell    upon    it 
more   at   length   here,   because   it   seems   to   me   very 
few    reali/,e   that   the   poor   have   practically    no   margin 
for    unexpected    demands,    much    less   for    savings,    with 
their  small  budgets. 

A  very  clever  Irish  woman  of  good  birth  whom 
I  have  known  for  \ears,  whose  husband,  once  rich 
through  lucky  speculations  in  another  country,  is  now 
poor  and  forced  into  the  ranks  of  unskilled  workers, 
once  said  to  nie,  apropos  of  her  husband's  wage  at  that 
time  of  $ii.c)o  a  week  (with  a  family  of  four  chil- 
dren), "I  now  understand  Ivord  Roberts'  remark  about 
the   'irreducible  minimum'!" 

Another  woman,  who  told  me  she  could  live  well  on 
$i2.0fj  a  week  when  they  had  that,  was,  on  the  very 
surface,  an  example  refuting  that  statement.  She  and 
her  husband  and  nvo  children  were  living  in  three 
rooms  (two  of  which  were  dark),  and  all  were  under- 
sized and  looked  under-nourished,  and  were  sick  a  great 
deal. 

VVhen  people  haven't  enough  for  the  daily  necessities 
of  life,  how  can  they  save? 

Let  me  (juote  here  from  I^uise  Roland  More,  who 
lived  two  years  at  Greenwich  House,  and  wrote  as  a 
result  of  her  investigations  a  book,  "  Wage-Earners' 
Budgets."  She  says  on  p.  5 :  "The  average  wage-earn- 
er's family  in  this  neighborhood  is  constantlv  on  the 
verge  of  dependence,  and  would  become  dependent  on 
friends  or  charit\'.  at  any  time  of  long-conrin'.ied  indus- 
trial depression,  illness,  or  unemployment.  The  '  margin 
of  surplus  '  of  the  income  over  expenditures  is  very  small, 

53 


S4     Wi.:^»;^S^- 


SAVING  FOR  OLD  AGE 


atj^ljf  J!^;;;^^^'';-'  "-  that  it  is  possible  il 
future.'-  ^    '"'  '"  '"•^'"^  '"^^•''  provision  for  the 

un!^iitJto;it;rrt,,i;:  iiiI't  ^^•^  ---  ^^  - 

years,    encountering    its   vario  ,         "    • '''T'"'^   ""^  ""'"^^ 
which   I  have  known  f^.rh  ''^'"^^'^ud^s.      A    family 

ii.m.  Known  lor  about  eii'ht  i««Trc  u,.  r  i  n 
..P  and  doun  the  west  side  of  New  Yo  k  ^nd  Tl  '" 
and  IS  now    n   Hrooklvn      Tl.„  ^  Harlem, 

than  $12.00  a    "JX  ,!"'  ,      "  ""''"  "'^"  '"^'^«^^  more 

pationV  aS  verV  often  he?"  "'  '''  "^''"  ^••''^"•'''  -^-- 
c'f  work.     At  one  t  m^    h  P-'/t'^'me  work  or  out 

the    family   we  rre:;d-t'hTf:v'  f  i'""  ^"^"'■^"-• 
in  one  '' furnished  rom''  /       '^;.''  "^ /hem-to   livinR 

week.     At  thi^nct.^  e\  rl"'  %'"'^  '^'•>'  '^•'"'^  ^^'^^  ^ 
up  a  furnish  d  lod^e  houTe"Tje"'r'r'^  ^"■^"'''  «'^''"« 

to  parrhi;nerV'Z\h,';°H?r  '^'^T^'"  ^'^-'^  ''"^  ^-^s 
the  I'enny  Provident  1^7^- V%^'"'''"  u^^''''''"'''^-  ^"^ 
.uire  sonle  sort  o^Ul'^  "' rs'rhe'ftr'rd^  ^^^ 
pealed  too  often  to  the  chirifnM?  •  ■  V  ^^"^  ^^^ 
not  help.  I  found  the  ^i ;  c^  witr?'^"^'  '^''  ^""^'^ 
■n  advance  and  to  move  the'^rn;  c^  '°  P'^  ^'^"^ 

have  never  reverted  to  such  i^'  "  ^'r'  '^^"  '^''V 
times  since  they  have  receLd  l'=^'''"^'°"'  ^^ough  several 
society,  and  one  o^her  til  T^''°'7"'  ^'°'"  '"^  charitable 
thc-m.^.nd\T\ti:oI  pnrst'p'.id'  th?"''"'^  ""^  ^°^ 
th.rd  and  sent  men  to  move    hem      Th    '',T"'"^   ""^^ 

someone  is  sick,  and  ,l,us  an  extra  evpei^cTpf  """">' 
s.nal,,  «ch  up  in  Aeir  finances,  buf*:;  nl'e.^  S; 

v.,T.''L"T>/«,  fo  or  three  times  in  these  last  ,i„ht 
since-  ;akinra^™rc';S;rn  7  C'^H^^  Z^V^^F 
PreeO-  steady,   even    through   Peri'o3r;,'"Lo:r'ag:i' 


y 


<,o 


IMFMCULTIKS  OF 


and  times  of  sudi  in.uJnuiate  nounVluiicnt  that  I  trcm- 
bU-d  for  fiis  Kood  resolutions. 

1  have  described  this  family  at  h-n^th  because  it  seems 
to  me  to  illustrate  in  a  concrete  wav  the  unceasing  stru.'- 
jrlc  to  "keep  even."  J  low  could  such  a  family  have  a 
"margin  of  surplus,"  much  less  save  anythinK? 

In  a  way  this  family  epitomizes  the  sort  of  existence 
a  lar^e  proportion  of  our  hi;.nl)ler  waire-carncrs  lead- 
forever  hovering'  on  the  brink  of  destitution,  always 
making  an  effort  to  have  enough  to  eat  and  a  decent 
place  in  which  to  sleep,  and  wt  seldom  achieving  even 
that,  bcMiK  forever  underfed,  usually  badlv  housed,  and 
often  in  overcrowded  quarters. 

'1  his  case,  although  it  may  have  some  distinctive  fea- 
tures, must  be  tvpical  of  thousands  and  thousands  of 
people. 

\arious  statistics  have  been  compiled  fiivinR  the  low- 
est budget  on  which  working-men's  families  can  possibly 
rxist.  ' 

^    John   R.   Shillady  in  an  article  in    The  Sunry  says- 
Ihe  Committee  on  Standards  of  Livint;  and  Labor  of 
the    National    Conference   of    Charities    and    Correction 
Mas    been    formulatint:    standards    below    which    society 
dare  not  ^o  and   be  safe.     These  standards  have  been 
accepted  by  the  conscience  of  the  country,  so  far  as  the 
social  workers  of  the  country  represent  that  conscience 
as    a    minimum    for    industry.      The    Pittsburp    Survey,' 
Chapins   study    for    .New    ^ork.    the    New    ^'ork   State 
Conference    h^ures    for    1907,    and    other    investigations 
have  convinced   even   the  sceptical   that   less   than   ''iSoo 
m   New   ^'ork,   between  $6,?s   and  $700  in   HufTab  five 
\tars  ago,  and  approximately  the  same  amounts  in  other 
places  are  unsafe  minimums  for  a  family  of  five.     The 
1912   platform  of   the   National   Conference  Committee 
asked,    among   other    things,    enough    to    provi.le    for    a 
normal    standard    of    living;    to    provide    for    recreation 
and    amusement,    etc."      And    yet   a    large    per   cent   of 
workmgmen  receive  a  wage  of  less  than  $600  a  year. 

So  much  for  quotations  as  to  wages  ,nnd  their  testi- 
mony as  to  the  ditticulties  of  providing  a  living,  still 
less  a   budget  on   which  savings  are  possible.      Does   it 


•i*^w»^ 


SAVING  FOR  OLD  AGK 


"Krca.se  of  mcome,  uhen  asMirrd  ami  ncrmancnt  from 
MH.ra-s    not    dniK.rali/in.'     n-Mil-      in    ,    V  "' /"^T 

Urc-atcr  etlicic-ncv  a„d  bcner  d  r.c  r  F  "  ''"'^'!^'' 
below  an  a.nount  suffia.nt  o "p  ovide  oTtT;  n'^"'"? 
demands  of  the  human  animal' for  food  shelteTTnH 
recreation,      result      in      dccre-isi-d      .ffi  i         "° 

standards  and  weakened  ch""crer  -  ^'''"'''     ^"""'^'^ 
^rom  years  of  personal  experience  with  the  poor    it 
^  aston.shmg  to  me  that  md,viduals  do  preserve    elen 
the;  do     ""'  ''"  '''''"'''  ='^  '"-'^  '--1  stamlnras 


62 


DIFFICULTIES  OF 


h?. 


to  help  them  we  mu-,t  face  the  situation  as  it  is,  and 
we  must  not  expect  impossibilities  from  them.     Indeed 
cons.dermg  all  their  difficulties,  I  am  often  amazed  that 
they  manage  as  well  as  they  do. 

The  following  descriptions  are  given  as  illustrations 
ot  the  subject: 

No.  68— Mrs.  D. 
One  of  the  Catholic  churches  gave  me  Mrs.  D  's 
name  I  found  her  scrubbing  some  rear  tenement  steps, 
very  breathless  because  she  has  asthma.  She  is  sixty- 
two,  born  m  Ireland,  but  has  been  in  Nev.-  York  since 
she  was  tA^•elve  years  old.  Her  husband  was  a  black- 
smith and  she  had  five  children,  but  they  are  all  dead, 
ihe  did  washmg  and  cleaning  before  and  after  her  hus- 
band s  death  and  now  is  a  janitress.  She  said  she  was 
paid  only  v,6.oo  for  her  work,  and  pays  $4.00  in  addi- 
tion for  her  rent,  i.e.  she  gets  by  her  work  $6.00  of? 
the  ?>io.oo  a  month  rent. 

That  seemed  rather  impossible  at  first,  but  T  learned 
that  janitress"  compensations  vary  greatlv— fro.  rooms 
plus  money,  to  rooms  for  which  there  must  be  some  pay- 
ment made.  It  depends  on  the  size  of  the  house  and 
whether  furnace  care  is  included,  and  also  seems  to  vary 
with  different  landlords'  or  agents'  wills,  and  the  bar- 
gain they  can  make.  Two  widows  of  my  hundred 
people  got  rooms  free  for  work,  and  two  other  widows 
besides  Airs.  D.  got  reduced  rent,  and  two  couples 
working  together  got  rooms  plus  money. 

Mrs.  D.  must  get  fees  from  other  people  in  the 
tenement  where  she  is  janitress,  and  her  brother,  who 
works  on  a  boat."  helps  her.  as  she  must  make  the 
S;4-Oo  extra  for  rent,  and  >jct  money  for  food.  She  is 
unusually  clcrin  and  brave  and  patient  and  hard-working, 
but  naturally  how  can  she  save  anything? 

Ko.  93— Mrs.  T. 
Mrs.  T  's  talc  is  tragic.     Her  pastor  spoke  of  her  with 
respect  when  he  gave  me  her  name,  and  after  my  one 
call    I   kit  iier  vvuh  admiratioii.      It  is  difficult  to  de- 


SAVING  FOR  OLD  AGE 


63 

S  "rn^'"^.  T-     ^^'  '^'-'^  -■-  sons   but'th'Te     l" 
now  her  inco.ne  is^mS^t  unS;^n    "she  '""  S^"'  ''"^ 

;o  have,  lived  throuTh  'all  fhat" 'and'sl  r^phT"  o"h' 
proSably  she  cannot  sew  till   the  v..r,.  -r,^     r  1.       .-,  ' 

No.  io~Mrs.  D. 

he  had  ,e,,  her  no.hin,"^^;'^!'''*^'^'',  "^^^rand 
tcc5  in  a  hoici  (he  had  somethine  to  dn  w.V^  • 

wafers  and   keeping  b«,b,   ee'c"'  I?  t.eTuinS^?! 


i 


H 


DIFFICULTIES  OF 


couldn  t  quite  understand  just  what  he  did,  but  he  got 
good  fees  as  well  as  a  salary).  And  the  reason  he  left 
her  nothing  was  that  he  was  sick  four  years  before  he 
died,  and  as  she  said,  "  All  his  earnings  were  eaten  up." 


hand  worker 
cek.  She  had 
in  her  family, 
can't  do  any- 
a  society,  and 
ed  sister,  who 
third  sister  is 
has  had  to  be 


No.  I J — Miss  D. 

Miss  D.,    Irish,   aged   sixty-two,   was  a 
on  furs.     Her  highest  pay  was  $10.00  a  w 
savings,  but  they  were  used  up  by  illness 
She  has  trouble  with  her  arms  now  and 
thing  but  church  sewing,  and  sewing  from 
out  of  what  she  m;.kes  she  helps  a  widow 
lives  with  two  worthless  nephews,  as  the 
dead.     All  the  money  she  has  ever  made 
used  for  others.     How  could  she  save? 

No.  3Q~Mr.  R. 

Mr.  R.  is  an  Italian,  sixty-six  years  old.  who  came  to 
the  United  States  when  ten  vears  old.  As  a  child  he 
went  about  with  his  father  and  a  "  grind  organ."  Then 
he  went  into  a  candy  factory  for  sixteen  years,  and  finally 
had  an  independent  artificial  flower  business— in  the 
best  years  making  a  profit  of  $6,000  according  to  his 
daughters  account.  Then  three  yea..^  jgo  the  business 
went  into  a  receiver's  hands,  "  because  of  someone  else's 
fault.  Now  because  of  his  chronic  asthma  and  feeble- 
ness he  can't  work.  He  has  enough  savings  to  support 
himself  and  his  wife  for  about  one  vear,  and  they  are  to 
move  to  a  little  house  of  their  own  on  Bath"  Beach. 
There  are  eight  sons  and  tAvo  daughters,  and  they  can 
support  their  parents  when  the  savings  give  out,  but 
this  shows  how  difficult  it  is  to  have  savings  to  last  many 
years,  even  after  a  profitable  business  career. 

No.  99— Mr.  JV. 

Mr.  W.,  Scotch,  sevent> -eight,  widower,  came  to 
America  when  fifteen  years  old.  He  was  a  sailor  at 
$16,00  a  month,  and  wni  in  the  Navy  during  the  War. 
Then  he  worked  in  the  Navy  Yard  at  $3.50  a  day,  and 


SAVING  FOR  or  1  AGE 


65 


$2.2.50  a  month,   on   which   he   lives  comforS    "0° 

which  are  unusual  cases.  ^^^~ 

A'o.  63~Afr.  C. 

Mr.  C     met  on  the  street,  gave  the  followine  renorf 

^"ars  ?s  nn"  '"   ^'*'*  -^'l  ^"'  ^''  ^^'■''^  '"  AmerL  forty 
Kars,   ,.  now  s.xt>-e>ght  years  old,  and   is  single      He 

had  a  peanut  and  fruit  stand,  hut  gave  it  up  tMo  and 

No.  56~Mr.  A. 

.    Mr.  A    is  a  native  American,  aged  sevent\-two      He 
s  m  good  physical  condition,  and  is  still  work^g      His 

with  'h    "^  T^  ^^^'^  "^'^  ""-"'■'■•^'i  sons,  both'livrne 

rI^        \  '"'^   ^'T^;."^-      "^  f^^^  ^^^  sa^ings-whv' 
Because  he  is  a  skilled   laborer— a   brickhver^J  h"' 
amily  has  not  been  a  great  strain  on  him  " He t mi 
times  made  $7.,oo  a  day.  or  $50.00  a  uTek    and  now 
Rets  70  cents  an  hour.     Oi  course,  bricklaWn'g's  a  5^7 

rsr;n;:ii:;::::,ri\-Sr'^^^^ 

having^t^n  content  to  l[v.on' j;;:;^^^^  ^rnl^: 


me^ais^iKei^^^'sse^^ 


66 


DIFFICULTIES  OF 


Then  there  is  one  more  difficultv  uliich  the  poor  ex- 
perience in  tryins  to  make  wa^es  cover  their  needs  and 
leave  a  little  over  for  emergencies  if  not  for  old  age. 
1  hey  have  to  waste  money  buying  in  small  quantities, 
and  at  wrong  seasons,  etc.,  because  thcv  haven't  a  large 
enough  weekly  margin  to  spend  any  considerable  sum 
at  once.     The  following  is  an  example  of  this: 

One  time  in  summer  when  there  was  a  big  bankrupt 
sale  of  men's  clothing,  and  various  thrifty  wives  in  com- 
fortable circumstances  were  laving  in  supplies  of  winter 
clothes  for  husbands  and  ch-'   ren,   I  thought  of  a  poor 
woman  whose  husband    nee     1   clothes  badlv,    and   was 
about  to  send   her  word   of   the  sale.      Kut  suddenly   I 
remembered  that  her  husband  was  at  that  time  making 
only  $ii.oo  a  week,  and  that  she  seldom  had  more  than 
one  dollar  a  week  left,   after  paying  for   rent  and   gas 
and    food    for   two   adults   and    four   children,    and    out 
of  that  $i.oo  thfy  were  paying  50  cents  a  week  on  a 
bill  at  a  I'urniture  store,  and  there  wa  ,  alwavs  something 
needed   even   though   most  clothes   for  the   family  were 
donated.     It  seemed  ironical  that  she  should  be  told  to 
go    to   a   bargain    sale!      And    such   slight   margins    are 
typical.     The  tenement  mother  has  to  cast  her  mind's 
<"Ve  over  the  needs  of  her  family  and  decide  which  child 
shall   have   the   surplus   each   week,   while   extra   trifles, 
like    soap,    thread,    extra    carfare,    and    especially    shoes, 
are  of  staggering  importance. 

So  that  the  very  people  who  need  to  count  every  penny 
are  the  ones  paying  especially  high  prices  for  coal,  flour, 
etc.  They  have  to  buy  cheap  food,  which  is  not  nourish- 
ing, and  cheap  ready-made  clothes,  which  wear  out 
quickly. 

And  yet  people  talk  glibly  of  the  "  improvidence  of  the 
poor."  Why,  poor  people  can't  even  afford  to  buy  things 
by  the  dozen.  They  simply  pay  the  highest  prices  for 
the  poorest  foodstuffs.  Indeed,  considering  their  re- 
sources *hey  manage  wonderfullv  well,  and  of  course 
occasionally  do  get  unusual  bargains. 

People  generally  have  no  conception  of  the  way  the 
poor  liavc  to  curtail  expenditures;  it  is  really  pitiful, 
their  efforts  to  make  every  cent  tell,     I  remember  once 


SAVING  FOR  OLD  AGE  67 

"rS  STrn'™"'  "■'"■*--"«»  could  .^  lad.    as' 
The  sSn  "ard  „,''rr^'"Lf  r  °*  *'  '-"^  habit  on 


i^ 


^1 


J^.-4»' 


68 


SAVING  FOR  OLD  AGE 


our  states,  the  average  amounts  held  per  depositor  in  the 
savings  banks  are  ridiculously  small  as  compared  to  the 
amount  needed  for  a  sufficient  income  at  old  ape. 

"  VI.    Finally,  special  saving  for  old  age  would  only 
be   possible   through   a   persistent,    systematic   and   obsti- 
nate disregard  of  the  needs  of  the  worlcingman's  family 
which  would  make  the  preaching  of  such  special  savings 
a  decidedly  immoral  force." 


EFFKCTS  OF  DEPENDKNCV  OF  THE  AOFF) 
ON  THEMSELVES.  ON  TFHIR  FAMH  lES 
AND  ON   SOCIETY        ■ '"^''"^ 

WE  have  considered  the  causes  of  dependency  of 
the  aged  and  foiin.i  manv  reasons  and  excuses 
tor  those  who  arrive  at  the  ape  of  ahout  sixty 
>ears.  and  arc  unahle  to  work,  with  no  savings  to  live 
upon.  VVe  have  also  considered  the  position  of  the  de- 
pendent aged  in  several  groups,  but  principally  we  have 
dwelt  upon  their  incomes,  and  the  incomes  of  those  who 
support  them,  and  upon  the  various  other  sources  of 
maintenance. 

I    wish    now    to    discuss    and    illustrate   some   of    the 
effects  of  such  dependency.     My  studies  brought  home 
to  rne  not  merely  the  tragedy  of  the  dependena-  of  the 
aged    ,n    r^  effects   on    themselves,    but    in    its    indirect 
effects.     The  old   suffer,   and   even   those  who   arc  un- 
educated, and  undeveloped,  and  unused  to  thr   finer  in- 
Huences  of  life  have  instinctive,  fine  sensibiliti.  ..  thoueh 
their   expressions    of    such    sensibilities    are   most   crude 
home  of  the  cases  I  give  in  detail  suggest  the  feelings 
of  the   aged,   their  dread   of   being  burdens,   etc.     And 
often   when   they  feel   their  children   can   support  them 
tairly  easily^  they  hate  to  give  up  and  long  to  be  inde- 
pendent     One  poor  old  woman  said  to  me  (she  was  a 
cripple   from   doing  laundry   work),    speaking  of   being 
supported  by  her  unmarried   son.   a  longshoreman    "  If 
I  could  only  make  my  own  dollar  again,  instead  of  tak- 
ing It  from  him.  though  he  is  kind !  " 

Some  old^  people  who  still  manage  to  work  have  not 
oni;»-  t,.cmsc.ves  U,  provuie  tor.  but.  with  the  link  of  the 
middle  generation  missing,  have  their  grandchildren  to 
provide  for. 

69 


^1 


-  'V 


70  KFFKCTS  OF  DKPFXDFNCY  OF 

And  still  more  pitiful  arc  the  old  sinRle  people  or 
cliihllcs^  roiipli-s,  who  feel  that  thoiiRh  they  have  con- 
tributed their  share  to  the  work  of  the  world,  they  must 
accept  charity  at  the  end  of  their  lives.  They  feel  the 
bitterness  of  this. 

Other  families  show  that  while  the  aged  are  slowly 
dyinp,  the  middle  generation  is  being  overworked  and 
tlie  young  generation   is  being  under-nourished. 

1  his  suggests  tiiat  the  middle  generation  has  the  bur- 
den of  decision  and  responsibility  as  to  the  problem  of  the 
aged. 

Formerly  I  supposed  that  many  aged  people  were 
sent  to  institutions  by  families  who  would  not  support 
them,  but  I  grew  to  realize  that  it  was  much  oftener  be- 
cause they  could  not  support  them,  judging  by  the  ef?orts 
made  by  families  to  take  the  burden  of  support  them- 
selves. 

Think  of  the  middle  generation  trving  to  decide 
whether  to  support  the  aged  parents  and  thus  have  less 
to  eat  for  themselves  and  for  their  children,  less  for 
clothes,  less  room,  and  less  for  occasional  recreation,  or 
to  put  the  old  people  in  an  institution! 

One    young   married    woman    in    Greenwich    Village 
whom  I  ve  mentioned  before,  told  me  that  the  time  had 
come  when   her  parents  and   her  husband's  parents  all 
needed    help.      She  said   her  husband's  parents   lived   in 
INcw   York  in   another  district,   and   although   the  aged 
woman   could    still   do   a   little  work,    i.e.  washing  and 
cleaning,  she  could  not  earn  much,  and  the  man  couldn't 
earn    anything.      He    was    a    shoemaker,    but   had    such 
trembling  hands  he  couldn't  sew  on   shoes  any  longer 
and  anyway  there  wasn't  much  demand  for  hand-made 
shoes  any  more.     The  old  man  was  looking  for  a  job 
as    a    porter   or   watchman,    but   couldn't   find    a    place 
Her  parents  owned  a  little  house  with  a  garden  in  New 
Jersey  and   usually  could  "  get  along."  but  she  had  to 
send    money    to    them    occasionallv.    all    that    could    be 
spared    for  her  husband  earned  onlv  $12.00  a  week      So 
she  said,  as  his  parents  needed  so  much  help,  they  would 


UC    iiU 


ana  she  iiad.  on  advice,  sent 


-..».,     M..V.     .-Ill     iiau.     uii     a 

them  to  a  charitable  association  for  assistance. 


THE  AGKD  ON  THF\ISELVP:s  7, 

wh?/  SnTap'J;;  '  "^'"  ^"  """^"^'  "-•  ^"^  '"^  ^hows 
Another  story  was  told  mr  by  a  clere>man  of  one 
of  the  smaller  ch,.rches  in  Greenwich  Village  The 
clergyman  expressed  himself  as  much  interested  in  the 
.nvest,gafon  and  in  the  subject  generallv.  but  said  he 
could  not  let  me  call  on  any  of  his  people    fearing  th.t 

offend  them,  that  even  the  poorest  were  hard-workrn/ 
self-respecfng  and  independent.  He  said,  however  hS 
he  would  tell  me  a  stor>-  illustrating  one  phase  of  the 

o.^r  S  r^^.rs.  t  j^t^r  m:;^::^ 

granddaughter.      One   night   when    she  Zl   awake     he 
heard    the  granddaughter   and    her   husband   quarreling 
The   man    said    that   he   could    not   support   the   grand- 
mother any  longer.-  that  he  had  his  children  to  care  for 
and  that  any'  extra  burden  was  intolerable.     The  v^un  ' 
woman   loved   her   grandmother   and   said   she   couZ't 
turn    her   out   of    the   house.      Next   morn  ng    the   oM 
woman  packed  up  her  belongings  and   told  her  grand 
daughter  that  she  had  overheard   the  quarrel  and   that 

a    Durden        I  he   granddaughter    remonstrated,    hi.t   the 
cTeT™".r  ^""T  '■"  ^"  ''^^'■^'--     She  w;nt    o  the 
wh.?To    ;,         u^    u'   '''"^''    ^"^    ^'^'^    advice    as    to 
what  to   do.      He   happened    to   know   of   a   charitab  e 
woman    then  wealthy^  who  had  risen   from  poverty    to 
when  he  sent  her.    The  charitable  woman  gave  the  po<^r 
old  soul  a  definite  pension,  and  sent  her  tJ  board  wi^h 
some  people  m  the  country  she  knew,  who  took  aW 
people,  especally  old  people,  to  board.     There  in  grat7 
tude  and   comfort   the  old   grandmother  lived   out   he 
days.     It  w-as  easier  for  her  to  take  charity  from  a  stranee 
woman    who   could    afford    it.    than    from    a   connection 
uho  couldn  t  afford  to  support  her  and  grudged  her  s^;;" 

anfo^thi  ^"""A^"  "^''''  °"  '^'  °^^  P'^^Pl^  themselves, 
and  on  the  middle  generation. 


"Mja^ 


72  KKFFCTS  OF  DFPFNDFNCY  OF 

Hmv  ciors  thr  (Irpcndcncv  of  the  au'c.:  affect  the 
t:r;.n,lcl.,l,lrni?  lo  hrjzin  witli.  in  famil.V^  bwr.lenp.l 
hv  the  support  of  the  ace.l.  or  In  fannllrs  where  there 
IS  a  inissmK  ^eIleratt•on.  the  diiMren  have  to  po  to  work 
too  early,  or  else  there  is  the  ire  .era  1  lowerint:  of  standards 
at  home.  It  is  rather  difficult  to  .iecide  whether  it  is 
better  for  children  to  stay  at  schor.I  longer  and  he  under- 
nourished, or  to  CO  to  work  earlv  and  have  more  to 
eat,  and  yet  this  is  a  common  pn.hlem  for  the  poor  to 
have  to  decide. 

'I'his  prohlem  came  up  not  onlv  in  the  cases  I  studied 
personally  hut  in  connection  with  families  discussed  hv 
the  •^ottlement  resi.lents.  Questions  like  these  were 
heard:  Well,  what  had  hetter  he  done-shall  th- 
prandmother  or  the  child  he  placed  in  an  institution.-' 
Can  w;e  tide  Mrs  -_  alonp:  till  her  grandson  can 
work?  etc.  And  this  ,s  illustrated  also  in  cases  Nos 
.^i  and  S;  which  are  given  a  little  farther  on 

Before  taking  up  the  suhject  of  the  effect  on  the    nunc 
peop  e  of  going  to  work  too  earlv,  I  wish  to  speak  r,f  the 
family  budget  m  general— that  is.  of  the  wav  it  is  made 
up.     It  IS  generally  considered  that  a  man's  wages  should 
support  his  family,  and  that  onlv  in  cases  of  emergency 
should  a  woman  whose  hushand  is  alive  have  to  work 
bhe  is  needed  at  home  to  care  for  the  children  and  to 
do  the  cooking,  washing,  cleaning,  etc.     I^t  no  one  think 
that  a   tenement  woman   with,   sav.   three  children   and 
a  home  to  care  for  has  much  time  for  idleness.     She  can 
save  much  by  giving  proper  attention  to  the  buving  and 
cooking  of  food  and  the  making  and  mending  of  clothes. 
So  needed  IS  she  in  the  home  for  the  best  interests  of  the 
chi hlren  that  those  who  have  the  administration  of  the 
widows    pension  fund  in  the  A.  I.  C.  P.  alwavs  arrange 
that  the  widows  to  whom  the  pension   is  given  should 
do   home  work   such   as   janitress  work,   etc..   whenever 
possible.      Nearly   all   educators,    school    truant   officers 
ofhcers  of  the  Gerry  Societv,   and   health  officers  agree 
that  a  mother  with  small  children  should  be  kept  out  of 
factories  and  at  home. 

But  if  the  husband's  u  .,gts  are  too  small  to  support 
tne  tamily,  and  the  wife  cannot  contribute  to  the  budget, 


-t^: 


m^m. 


THE  AGEU  ON  TIIKMSKLVKS  7, 

(letnincntal   to  parental    lutfinrifv       r         ^  '  ;^n"-n    <s 

ncc  hc.«htcn.  the  sense  of  personal   independence       At 

ti.e  same  t.rne  tins  contribution,  often  of  the  entire  wnl 

.^p:jar|frf;til::-^^^^ 

soon  as  working  paper,  can  be  "ecured  thfbovs'rnT.irh 
are   pushed    into   indu^   ry,    and    must   hnv     IL  ■ 

mdustrial  future  ruined   b^    hrt^T  '   ^"^"   '^"^"'^ 

enduring  mean.hilcrei  l!  .^p^.^  "■"'"  preparation. 
1  his  is  well  brought  out  hv  Cl-in  r    r        i  i-     ■     . 

i  ^v^^:  ir^1r^-  cS^H- ^^;;fw.  .he. 

ar.gr-r^°:g^^r-;t-:bZv;^^-bie^:: 

u';;  th'rr"""  '^^  ^'^^^  ^^^y'^^  declining  indutial 
uorth    .vh.ch    set    m    so    comparatively    early    for    h  m 
When  h.s  daughter  goes  to  work  she  should  be  ableTo 
relieve  the  strain  bv  a  little  more  th-,n  fhl       \     r  . 
Jeep;   but  she  s),„„ld    b,    able  .'J  do  ",'tS,°  h'" 

save  agains;  old'aKe:-    '""'  ''°""''   ''"'^""  ^'""  '" 
So  the  burden  of  the  aged  falls  heavily  upon  ,h,  j.„,„g. 


fc-3 


MS 


74  KFKF.CTS  f)F  DFPKNDFNCY  OF 

The  effects  of  the  dependency  of  the  aced  upon  so- 
ciety are  of  cour^-  very  indirect,  but  arc  felt  in  the 
general  loueruij;  of  wages,  when  the  aged  do  try  to 
uork  at  lowest  wages,  and  by  the  general  lowcrinR  of 
family  standards  of  living  by  the  forcing  of  the  voung 
to  work— which  IS  not  only  bad  for  them,  but  alsti  low- 
ers wage  standards  and  overcrowds  industry.  And  by 
the  overwork  an.l  overstrain  of  the  middle  and  young 
generations  the  general  phvsical  efficiencv  is  lowered 
just  as  in.leed  all  p(,vertv  with  its  accompanying  under- 
nourishment lowers  the  vitality  and  efficiency  of  the 
race.  ' 

The  following  cases  serve  as  illustrations  in  part  of 
tliesc  f.icts.  Instead  of  the  usual  order  of  arrangement, 
— vvidows.  single  women,  couples,— they  are  arranged 
as  they  illustrate  effects  on  the  old  people,  on  the  middle 
generation  and  on  the  grandchildren. 

No.  95~Mr.  T. 

Mr.  T     sixt>-four  years  old,  born  in  New  ^'ork    has 
serious    chronic    mdigestion ;    he    looke.l    really    ill     and 
hasn  t  worked  for  one  >ear.     He  and  his  wife  live  with 
a  daughter  separated   from   her  husband,   and  a  son  of 
nmeteen  years.     Of  fifteen  children  there  are  eight  left, 
and   of   all   his  s<.ns   the    father   said    the   voungest   was 
the   best    and   the   kindest   to   his   parents.'   The   father 
feels  rather  bitterly  towards  one  son  who  could  easily 
help  him  but  won  t.     He  resents  his  dependency  deeply, 
especially  as  it  falls  on  the  youngest  son.     The  daughter 
said,      hather  ahvays  worked  when  he  could  "     Mr   T 
was  a  bricklayer  and  a   truck-driver,  earned  $12.00  to 
:Si5.oo  a  week,  but  got  down  to  $13.00  a  week  before 
he  stopped  work.     He  had  no  savings  when  he  stopped 
work  but  a    ife  insurance  policy.      However,  his  illness 
isn  t  the  kind  to  end  his  life  ver>-  soon  necessarilv,  and 
he  and  his  wife  evidently  are  a  burden  and  his  feeling 
ot  uselessncss  and  helplessness  is  pitiful. 

No.  7— Mrs.  D. 
Afrv  D.  sliustratrs  a  higher  social  ^radc  than  any  of 
the  others   interviewed.     She   is  well  educated   and   re- 


f- 


-  _  C"  /.TV 


THK  A(]KI)  ON    rHi;MSi;L\|;s  7, 

old    and  iCn  '""'  "'  '^""•^'^"•''  "'"■"  f'Toc  vrars 

sayini:  she  u-k  •,   .r.J  ^''^'    '"'"  '''■"■  "'""«". 

A'o.  J— ,t/rj.  /;. 

One   can't   help    bunp   sorrv    for    Mr*     R        u»,       i 
sh.  .s  rather  an  ungrateful  olJs.n  i  to  the  dnn^u'u 

where  she  lives  (her  husbud    \l       K  •     ^  f''  '"'*''' 
X'  ^^^tr  ^r  •''"   ^f'l''-"!  woman  of  sivtv-flve    fn«  V..,.„   • 
chii(<r<>n      'ri,„  ■'  ■'•••■"(-.''icr  u ii(j  Jias  siv 


76 


KFFECTS  OF  DEPF.NDKNCV  OF 


natural  matter,  and  she  saiil,  "All  ot  us  daiinhn  ;;e 
willing  to  help  mother,  but  our  husbands  are  n.  •  r 
they  have  their  own  mothers  to  help."  I'hc  dau.  .s 
all  seem  to  need  occasional  out>ide  help, — for  exai..ple, 
milk  at  a  millr  station, — and  once  one  of  the  daujjhtcis' 
husbands  fiot  a  union  card  throujjh  a  charitable  societv, 
and  one  daughter  was  sent  to  Sea  Hreeze.  Evidently  tlie 
families  are  on  the  border-line  and  every  little  extra 
counts. 

No,  60— Mr.  C. 

Mr.  C,  an  Irish  widower  of  seventy-four  years,  seems 
to  illustrate  several  effects  of  dependency.  Jle  worked 
in  a  factory,  and  then  as  a  lonj^shoreman,  making  $8.00 
and  $()xx)  to  $25.00  a  week,  i.e.  getting  these  amounts 
irregularly — and  finally  made  only  about  $2.50  a  week 
before  stopping  two  years  ago,  pushed  out  by  younger 
men,  naturally  at  seventy-two  jears  of  age.  He  had  no 
savuigs  when  he  stopped;  even  his  insurance  policv  had 
run  out.  He  lives  with  a  son  and  his  wife  anil  five 
children.  Two  married  daughters  and  some  nephews 
evidently  do  not  help.  The  daughter-in-law  said  her 
husband  was  a  truck-driver  making  >i5.oo  a  week,  and 
with  five  children  there  wasn't  much  to  spare,  and  she 
seemed  to  resent  the  support  of  her  father-in-law,  and 
he  "  wishes  he  had  money  of  his  own,"  so  he  is  unhappy, 
and  she  is  upset,  and  evidently  all  are  cramped,  and  yet 
there  is  no  one  to  blame  for  the  situation. 

It  seems  fair  to  give  one  example  of  real  pauperism, 
though  it  is  the  only  one  I  would  call  that,  in  the  hun- 
dred investigated. 


Xo.  2S—Mrs.  MiC. 

Mrs.  Mc.C.'s  family  is  not  an  example  of  the 
''  worthy  poor,"  but  the  reverse.  The  whole  family 
illustrates  the  degenerating  effects  of  extreme  poverty. 

Mrs.  McC.  herself  at  seventy  can  scarcely  be  blamed 
for  not  working,  but  she  certainly  has  lost  a  great  deal 
of  her  self-iespect.    She  was  born  in  Ireland  and  worked 


T^rr^i^^  M 


THE  AGED  ON  THEMSELVES  77 

in  a  factory  till  she  was  married.     Her  hu.band  was  a 

hctttr  uajj...      l,„t  succeeded   in   becoming  only  a  dav- 
laborer   and   d.ed    twenty-eisht   >ears   aj^o.      Then    \   rs 

'bcelTn-h         '^'"-     .^'r.^''^  h'-'d   pneumonia  and   an 
X  ch.ld.en  only  two  are  left,  and  one  cannot  help,  so 

sne  lues  Ih.s  daughter  has  tour  cluldren.  the  youni:- 
est  ma  day  nursery.  The  daughter  works  out  bv  the 
da>.  but  isnt  successful,  making  only  about  <S"<ki  a 
month  ,0,  „  ,  ,,„,  .^^,j  ^  ,,^^,^  ^^^^     -^  charitable  L> 

not  have  enough  to  eat.  and  rather  begged  fc-r'con- 
h.d    hr;,  ""''T'"''    -    ^"*:'^   ^'''-'^  --•-'  -"'-"  '    s 

\ow;Tlth  ;  ,  ^  "'f'"\  V'  ^-""^'''"ed  worthless 
^ou   all  th  >e  doles  and  makesh.tts  arc  bad  for  the  fam- 

1>,  especially  the  uncertainty  r,f  them,  and  the  tempta- 
t.on  ,s  to  rely  upon  them  and  to  try  for  mor'    a  7  n- 

tead  of  more  work,   tor  apparently  the  daughter  could 

outTdNTr  ^l";  c''''  ^'"  'K  ''■'''''  "^-  he-  ">' 
course,  old  Airs.  McC.  can  t  work,  and  it  is  possible  to 

believe  that  the  daughter  worked  hard  vears  .^go  Tic 
pomt  of  this  storj-  is  meant  to  be  that  som Ses  t le 
strain  for  the  middle  generation  is  too  great  and  tht 
occasionally  people  succumb,  and  that  aher  1  the  in 
d.v.duals  who  fall  are  not  alwa^s  entirely  to  blame 
when  conditions  are  too  hard  for  them! 

A'o.  3i~Mr.  M. 

Mr.  and  Mrs  M.  are  separated,  not  through  lack 
of  affection,  but  because  the  only  two  of  ,he  eX  ons 
and  daughters  hying  who  can  help  their  pa  ems  are 
nvo  widowed  daughters.  One  wi.hnyed  daughte  s'^' 
ports  her  father.  She  does  janitress  work  f  r  'vS, 
she  ,ets  nice  light  rooms  and  ,mo.c«  a  month  T  n 
she  does  scrubbing  at  some  offices,   for  which   she  gets 


i 


78 


KFFFCTS  OF  DFPENDENCY  OF 


$20.00  a  month,  lint  $.?o.oo  a  month  dear  isn't  much 
to  feed  two  adults  and  two  children  and  to  clothe  them 
and  to  pro\ide  for  all  emerj^cncies.  And  she  p.\i>t 
work  very  hard  to  do  the  oflice  and  janitress  work!  She 
says  her  father  doesn't  realize  wliat  a  burden  he  is.  He 
yvorked  on  the  docks  for  about  >i( ).()<)  a  wck  and  when 
incapacitated  hadn't  saved  ansthint;.  The  old  woman 
lives  with  the  other  widowed  daughter.  1  just  stumbled 
on  this  fan.ilv  when  iiuiririny:  for  someone  else.  I  made 
two  calls  on  the  daughter  u  ith  whom  the  old  man  lives, 
and  one  call  at  the  house  where  the  old  woman  lives— 
where  I  saw  the  old  woman,  but  not  the  daui,ditcr. 
1  hat  daughter  f:oes  out  deaninj:  and  supports  her 
mother  and  three  children,  and  an  invalid  brother  lives 
there  too.  'I'he  old  woman  j:avc  the  impression  of 
livinti  on  very  short  rations  and  said,  "  I've  just  jjiven 
the  children  some  breakfast,  but  we  didn't  even  have 
any  su^ar  for  the  coffee."  So  apparently  both  families 
are  struggling  hard. 


^■1 


Ao.  sr—Mrs.  r. 

The  pastor  of  their  church  said.  "  \'ou  will  find  the 
S.  family  hard-working,  self-respecting  (lerm.ms,"  and 
I  had  known  tuo  of  the  boys  sliglitl,  \ears  before,  in 
connection  with  some  work  in  the  neighborhood,  as  good 
and  reliable.  So  I  climbed  the  long  stairs  with  expec- 
tations of  a  pleasant  visit.  I  entered  the  kitchen  and  a 
comfortable  scene  met  my  e\es:  a  woman  of  .about  forty- 
five  and  one  over  sixty  were  stiuing  tea  with  a  guest, 
another  woman  over  sixt\ .  whom  I  had  heard  ot  as  a 
possible  "  case  "  for  me.  The  bins  served  as  an  in- 
troductory theme,  and  then  I  was  tibliged  to  rest  and 
have  tea  too — .and  to  hear  all  the  famil\  news.  While 
I  recovered  my  breath,  1  learned  tliat  the  familv  con- 
sisted of  four  gener.itions,  represented  bv  one  person 
from  each  generation.  One  of  the  bo\s'and  his  little 
sister  had  died  of  tuberculosis,  the  bo\  recentl\ .  and  now 
at  last  the\  understood  al>out  the  disease,  an<i  had  had 
the  rooms  well  tunugated.  The  great-grandmother  was 
m   an   adjoining   room   asleep;   they   said   siic   was  ninety 


HP 


K 


THE  AGED  ON  THEMSELVES  79 

so     die    tn-<}-iv  "      <K  """   I'l.ic  Has  un\       wcsceni 

speak   En„is^  ^^ryZl'J:^l'i:-t!7:7'tM 
tnat  they  often  pive  bren.i   and   tei  t     he       .1  !^ 

even    less    than    thev.      Pn.bibk      ]l  ■'"'   ^'^'^ 

won't  live  much   lon,en   bu       .•  t-  ^"''^  ^^ '  "'""^her 
grandmother,  now  sixtv-  hree       on'    h.    h     ' "  Z^"'   't*^ 

Ihrift  IS  here,  and  famllv  dcvot  on    inH    ,.l( 
they  are  too  prou.l  t.,  receive  limnoM    '™  ,'*''"''l-"---<: 
or  charitv.   but  as  all   ,l,e  bm'T  .?,',  '""  "'"'"■'' 

fnn,ily,  what  has  he  for   Lself  •     iZ'h'""  "'  ',"  /'" 
ine  is  the  whole  situati.m"  ""'   •"""'"•I"'- 

borne  of  these  cttects  are  well  emphasized   In    I     \r 

.■■ie';  "trr^iiilrrlr'ar'^:,-;..'-!'!.;'';:;"  "''^ ;;'  •- 
:::?t^rd:;^':hr^,;:;:d;t:i:;:''"r'^":'- 

father   or   .other   to   ^^'%:"^-ZTZ^^ 


8o 


p:ffi:cts  of  dependency 


M 


yielded,  in  pain  and  humiliation,  or  preventing  the  for- 
mation of  a  new  family  by  the  dutiful  son  or  Jaunhter 
bccavi>c  of  the  existinji;  obli}2;ation  towards  tlie  ruins  of 
the   old   family." 

And  Alice  \V.  Solenberger,  in  her  book  "  One  Thou- 
sand Homeless  Men,"  says  on  p.  77,  referring  especially 
to  men  retired  by  industrial  accidents:  "  When  in  such 
cases  standards  ot  living  are  lowered,  and  the  earnings 
of  children  taken  out  of  school  must  be  resorted  to,  the 
indirect  result  will  be  revealed  only  in  later  years  in  the 
undermined  vitality  of  these  children.  \'et  this  indirect 
result  may  be  far  more  serious  than  the  direct  one." 


N 


m; 


't'^m^^^^ 


>.^B».i4i 


.*  .,•.#».- 


XI 

DISLIKK  OF  INSTITUTIONS 

OF  all  the  women  I  talked  with  onlv  three  thouRht 
they  would  like  to  pn  into  an  institution.     One 
ot   a   better  position    than   mo.t.   evidentlv  di<in'c 
like    livinK    with    her    brother    and    his    wife,    and    just 
wanted  to  ^-et  away  from  them,  and  was  perfectlv  v.4,e 
about  Homes;  one  lived  alone  and  was  scared  b;' her  at- 
tacks ot  dizzmess.  which  sometimes  caused    her  to   fall 
arid   once   caused   quite   an   accident,    and    she   was   con- 
s.dermg  an  offer  from  her  church  to  put  her  in  a  Home 
And   the  third    who  was  very  lonelv   because  of  the   re- 
cent death  of  her  daughter,  and  didn't  like  living  with 
her  s.ster-.n-lavv,   although  she  was  independent  because 
she  received  a  IS.  Army  pension,  thought  also  vaguelv 
that  she  might  like  to  go  into  a  Home.     But  the  over- 
whelming majority  dreaded  the  very  idea  of  an  institu- 
tion and  fought  bitterlv  against  it. 

.    At  fjrst  I  thought  their  fears  were  verv  unwarranted 
just  a.s  tneir  extreme  fear  of  hospitals  is.     Though  after 
visiting  numerous  free  wards  in  hospitals  one  does  reil- 
ize  that  unless  the  poor  patients  are  "  interesting  cases  " 
they  often  are  neglected,  or  are  experimented  with    and 
even  when  receiving  proper  attention  the\   often  do  nr.t 
understand    what    is    happening    to    them;    as    one    old 
woman  I  knew  said.  "They  stuck  needles  i.to  me    an.' 
1  m  too  old  tor  n(   diework.  and  put  me  into  a  tree/in? 
box,  when   I  m  so  cold.      I'd  rather  be  ,n  mv  own  little 
hasement.    near    the    stove."      Later,    however.    I    found 
many  of   their  fears  about   Homes  substantiated.      Fven 
in  the  best  of  Homes  there  is  a  tremendous  loss  of  !ib- 
ert)-  and  individualit\ ,  and  the  inmates  are  at  the  mercv 
of  the  matron  unless  having  "  a  pull  "  with  vome  of  the 
patronesses  ot  the  Home. 

One  gentlewoman  I  knew  „t  v^  as  s?nt  to  the  infirmary- 

8i 


82 


DISLIKK  OF 


i 


in  orif  f)f  the  vcrv  In-st  Homes  pnd  was  kept  there  five 
ila\s  before  a  doctor  was  siiniiiioned.  and  died  as  a  result 
of  neglect.  Relatives  then  exerteil  themselves,  an  in- 
vestigation was  made,  and  tdrt>-t\\o  complaints  were 
received  a-jaiiist  the  matron,  who  was  finally  dismissed. 

Another  tjentlevvoman,  who  had  lo>t  all  her  money, 
and  all  her  friends,  though  her  husband  had  been  an 
editor  and  ■-he  had  known  diNtiii^uished  people  in  her 
d.i\,  u.•l^  idaced  by  a  church  in  one  of  the  less  well- 
know  ti  but  •.u|lpo^edl\  satisfactor\  Homes.  Most  of  the 
other  inm.ites  were  foreigners,  and  they  treated  her  very 
badlv.  She  had  a  room  with  a  womar  who  spoke  no 
Kn^lish.  thou^'h  there  were  other  Kn^lish-speaking  in- 
mates there.  Soine  of  the  women  .ictiially  "  ha/ed  "  her. 
and  stole  food  from  her.  The  poor  soul  almost  lost  her 
mincl  under  this  treatment.  I'inally  she  was  sent  to  a 
hosp.'tr.l  to  the  psychopathic  war<l.  When  her  church 
heard  of  this  the  doctors  at  the  hospital  were  consulted, 
and  as  no  mental  deran^ement  w  .is  found,  except  a  cer- 
tain loss  of  memory  an<l  vatruenevs  natur.il  to  ajze  thoutrh 
exaggerated  by  her  troulile.  she  was  reiiioved  from  the 
hospital  to  a  jil.ice  outside  of  New  York,  where  >i.(X)  a 
day  board  is  paid  lor  her  .and  she  is  free  and  happy  apain, 
though  manv  of  her  cherished  belonfjinjis  were  lost  at 
the  first  jil.ice. 

It  is  onh  fair  to  add  that  I  do  know  one  or  two  very 
superior  Homes  for  pentletolk  in  reduced  circum- 
stances and  th.it  such  Homes  will  alwavs  fill  a  certain 
need. 

Hut  if  such  thinps  happen  at  hi^h-frrade  institutions, 
think  of  the  helplessness  and  suf^erinjis  of  people  placed 
in  free  institutions. 

Men  do  not  hate  uistitutions  quite  as  inuch  as  women. 
As  I  said  in  the  chapter,  "  Aped  People  Wholly  De- 
pendent nil  C"li,irit\,"  mtn  h.ive  not  the  same  instinctive 
love  of  honie-m.ikinn  and  do  not  strue^le  as  women, 
to  keep  a  home,  even  if  it  is  only  a  single  room,  with 
an  oil-st(i\e,  which  tlie\  use  tor  heat  and  on  which  they 
prepare  iiiosr  meaper  meaU. 

Neither  do  men  care  quite  as  much  for  personal  pos- 
sessicnis  and  priv,ic\,  and  the\   manajie  somehow  even  on 


-  s^nfj^- 


INSTITUTIONS 


8.? 


IJIackuc-lls  M.ind  to  havi-  more-  liberty  than  the  women 
tlUTf,  so  they  don't  Mitfer  the  same  when  thcv  "  Kive  up." 
In  order  to  see  some  of  the  actual  CMn(htionN  of  those 
who  Kave  up  and  went  to  puhlic  institutions  for  the  aged 
I  visited  the  Home  tor  the  Aged  on  Blaclcwells  Island 
and  the  1-arm  Colonv  on  Staten  Mand.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary here  to  give  descriptions  .f  the  two  institutions  in 
detail.  I  wish  to  mention  merelv  what  is  particularly 
striking. 

I  he  Farm  G>I()ny  is  by  far  the  superior,  partly  be- 
cause of  the  cottage  s>stem  and  because  married  couples 
are  not  separated,  and  because  it  is  smaller— with  more 
ground,  etc.  1  here  is  one  cottage  containing  sixteen 
couples,  which  is  of  course  (jnly  a  beginning  in  the  right 
direction.  And  there  are  two  other  cottages  there  for 
women  with  single  rooms,  or  ro(jms  containing  only  two 
persons,  and  more  cottages  are  to  be  built.  Probably 
this  system  of  cf)ttages  is  more  expensive  and  would  not 
be  practicable  financially  on  Hlackwells  Island,  but  they 
might  even  on  Hl.ickwells  Island  have  one  big  building 
for  married  people. 

Many    people    who    heard    Albert    Chevalier    in    his 
Loster      songs,   and  were  shocked  at  the  revelation  of 
the  tragic  separation  of  old  m.irried  people  in   Kngland 
would  be  surprised   to  know  that   that  system   exists  on 
IJlackwells  Island.     Hut  perhaps  the  most  striking  thing 
of  all  IS  the  h<.rrnr,  of  course  greater  because  on  a  larger 
scale  at  Hlackwells  Island,  of  the  huge  dormitories  with 
the  be.ls  nearer  together  than  in  the  usual  hospital  wards 
1  hat  people  can  sleep  in  such  huge  dormitories  so  close 
together  seems  incomprehensible— for  althr)ugh   the  very 
poor  have  never  been  used  to  the  luxury  of  real  privacy 
there  is  a  difference  between  sharing  a   room  with  two 
to    tour   relatives— and    a   room    with   a   hundred   or  so 
strangers. 

The  hospital  provisions  at  both  places  seem  commend- 
ahie  and  efforts  are  made  for  amusements,  with  occa- 
sion.al  b.-jnd  concerts  near  the  blind  women's  pavilion  at 
Hlackwe  Is  Island.  And  at  Hlackwells  Island,  under 
one  of  the  churches  there  is  a  library  and  reading-room 
Where  men  and  women  both  may  go. 


84 


DISLIKF  OF 


"^r: 


Vor  sittinK-rooms  the  men  fare  hetter  at  hoth  places. 
I  lute  is  no  special  enclosed  traflieriniz  place  tor  women 
at  MlackuclN  Island,  but  tlie  men  liave  a  bijj;  isolated 
fnu-room  hulldin^  uliich  they  call  "Klondike."  where 
tliev  can  smoke  and  play  cards;  at  least  I  tlidn't  see 
such  a  room  tor  women,  and  we  were  miided  around 
faitlifullv  imtil  in  spite  of  lon^  years  of  tenement  visiting 
I  could  stand  no  lonper  the  si^rht  of  such  liepressed.  hope- 
less, s.ul.  vacant,  wretched  f.ices.  All  seemed  to  live 
such  a  hopelessly  monotf)nous  life  with  no  individuality 
or  scope  for  personal  effort. 

And  at  Staten  IsLmd  the  men  had  a  real  sittinp-room 
in  the  b.isement  of  one  of  the  bm'ldinps:  but  the  women 
had  only  their  dining-room  to  use  as  a  sittinjr-room.  and 
it  was  much  less  comfortable  and  cheerful  than  the  men's 
room,  thoutrh  women  need  homelike  surroundings  more 
than  men. 

'I  he  conclusion  seems  evident  that  men  are  given 
sitting-rooms  at  botl)  places  largely  because  of  their 
smoking   and   chewing  and   spitting  habits! 

Of  course  people  do  get  desperate  and  commit  suicide 
or  try  to  do  so.  One  of  the  nurses  at  Hlackwells  Island 
said,  "  I  don't  think  I  can  sland  it  here  much  longer, 
it  is  awful.  I  ilon't  wonder  some  of  the  old  people 
wander  down  to  the  river  and  get  in  boats  and — well, 
sometimes   nothing  more   is  heard   of   them !  " 

At  neither  place  did  I  have  any  opportunity  to  speak  to 
any  of  the  old  people  alone,  but  probably  this  was  just 
chance,  as  of  course  visitors  are  allowed  to  come  regu- 
larly to  sing  or  read  or  talk  with  the  inmates. 

I  feel  I  ouglit  to  sav  a  word  in  commendation  the 
regulations  for  cleanliness,  bathhouses,  etc.,  •  •  .)oth 
places,  and  rspeci.illy  of  the  L'cneral  h\gienic  r  itions 
at  Staten  Island,  where  the  disinfecting  of  clot..  in  the 
laimdry,  etc..  is  fine.  With  ^(xv)  people  at  Hlackwells 
Island  and  i.ick)  at  the  F.irm  Colony  at  Staten  Island, 
cleanliness  and  h\  giene  are  big  problems. 

My  last  comment  is  on  the  lack  of  provision  at  both 
pl.aces  for  the  keeping  of  personal  effects,  which  is  a 
most  serious  defect. 

At  Staten   Island,  in   the  dormitories  the  women   had 


INSTITUTIONS 


85 


chairs   bv    their    bi-dsidrs.    so    thev    practically    ounrd    a 
chair  as  uell  as  a  bed,  ami   the  clothes  on  their  backs. 
Ihinlc   of   the   tragedy   of   ownint;   nothing   more,    when 
every  human   being  has  inherently   a   loye  of   .laiuisition 
ot  propcrt>-,   as  is  preyed  also  in  asylums  for  children, 
where  it  is  found  that  children  pine  away  if  acquisition 
of  personal  belongings  is  denied  them!     I  asked  one  of 
the  heads  at  Staten  Island  if  the  inmates  could  not  have 
.1  locked  tin  box  for  personal  belongings,  but  he  insisted 
that  that  would  be  a  menace  to  the  general  hygiene.     I 
sai(j.  "  But  the  boxes  could  be  inspected  regularly."     To 
which   he  objected   irritably.   "There   is  no  one  here   to 
do  such  work.     I  am  short  of  help  as  it  is.  besides  the 
people   here   are   rif?-raff.    anyway."      This   statement    I 
could    not   agree   with   at  all,    for   many  of   the   inmates 
seemed  ver>-  decent,   ifspectable  people,'  and   in  the  cot- 
tages  where   they  were   given    liberty    (entrance   to   the 
cottages   is   rather   by   "pull."   and    perhaps   to   some   es- 
pecially deserving  ones)   they  looked  very  neat  and  nice. 
However,  in  all  that  has  been  said.   I  have  tried  not 
so  much   to  criticize   existing  conditions  at  both   places, 
as  to  criticize  the  whole  s\stem.  for  I  hope  some  da\  other 
schemes  for  old-age  provision  will  be  found  that  will  do 
away  with  such  gigantic  institutions. 

Ideally,  when  possible,  families  should  be  "  kept  in- 
*«*■  '  <A^*^"  important  settlement  worker  said  to  me  in 
^?T*'i-'  '"^"^"'^'-*  "^  tf'p  (Zrandmother  in  the  home 

of  Italian  families  is  very  much  needed.  To  begin  with 
she  often  knows  much  mo-e  about  the  care  of  babies  than 
the  trained  nurse  or  the  mother.  Secondly,  her  effect 
on  the  manners  of  the  younger  generation  is  important. 
She  has  more  influence  on  the  grandchildren  than  the 
mother  has.  And  thirdly,  besides  the  effect  on  man- 
ners, there  is  a  deeper,  more  subtle  influence  that  the 
grandparents  exert.  They  inculcate  reverence  in  the 
young,  .ind  moral  ste.adiness.  In  the  changing  social  and 
industrial  conditions  and  the  readjustments  of  racial 
habits  of  thought  and  life,  though  the  young  often  lose 
respect  for  and  obedience  to  their  parents,  somehow 
they  still  respect  and  obey  their  grandparents." 

In    a    lesser   degree    this    is    no    doubt    true    of    other 


h 


86 


DISLIKK  OF 


national itir-;.  If  ^randparrnts  could  pav  h«)ar(l  to  thrir 
faiiiilio,  uIk'm  tin-  fainilu'N  arr  too  poor  to  support  tlirin, 
liow  inuih  caiii  thcrr  would  In-  (|nuid\ — to  the  ajrd  and 
to  their   ^atnilic-;. 

Then  tlirrr  arc  thr  at;rd  \ilio  lia\r  no  families  to 
board  with.  cNrn  if  tlu-v  had  the  inoiic\ ,  l)iit  who,  if  thry 
had  the  money  oiit'^ide  that  it  mii»>t  cost  to  keep  them 
in  an  institution,  could  live  alone  or  hoard  with  friends. 

I  cannot  ai:ree  with  V.  Spencer  M.ddu  in  in  this  re- 
spect. He  sa\s  in  an  article  on  'The  Kindini:s  of  the 
Massachusetts  Commission  on  Old  A^e  Pensions"  in 
the  American  Statistical  Association  I'uhlic.itions  for 
March,  I'lio:  "The  most  interesting  cjuestion  that 
arises  in  connection  with  the  almshouse  jiopulation  re- 
lates to  the  pMihalile  proportion  r)f  thi-  class  that  would 
he  enabled  throu(;h  the  ^rant  of  pensions  to  withdraw 
from  institutional  residence.  The  facts  as  to  the  phys- 
ical condition,  e.irnin^:  power  .itid  family  connections 
of  inmates  thrf)w  some  li)_'ht  on  thi>  tjue^tion.  It  ap- 
pears that  <>^S  per  cent  of  the  atied  almshouse  inmates 
have  physical  defects  of  some  kind,  and  70.1  are  wholly 
incapacitated  for  labor,  while  an  .uldition.'il  S.4  are  partly 
incapacitated.  Thus  the  percentajze  of  able-bodied  in 
the  atred  pauper  population  is  only  12. s.  This  f  .ct 
points  to  the  practical  impossibilitv  of  removing  any 
considerable  portion  of  this  popidatif)n  from  the  institu- 
tions throujih  the  est.iblishment  of  a  pension  system.  An- 
other fact  of  similar  si^niticance  is  the  extremely  small 
percentajic  of  almshouse  inmates  having  adult  children 
or  other  near  relatives  able  to  assist  them,  namely  7.7 
per  cent.  It  is  obvious  that  a^ed  inmates  having  no  chil- 
dren or  rel.iti\es  with  whom  they  could  Ii\e  would  not, 
as  a  rule,  be  enabled  by  tlie  L'rant  or  a  small  pension  to 
leave  the  almshouse." 

These  statistics  do  prove  that  mo^t  people  at  the  alms- 
houses can't  work  to  support  themselv>'s  and  that  they 
are  there  because  their  relatives  can't  aftord  to  support 
them,  but  it  sc.ircelv  proves  th;it  their  relatives  or  friends 
could  not  care  for  them  if  paid  to  do  sf) ;  and  plenty  of 
the-e  poor  people  in  almshouse-,  even  with  ;  h  -n;il  dis- 
abilities, would  prefer  to  live  alone  outside  rather  than 


W 


INSTITITIONS 


87 


stay  in  .«lm-.h.)usfs,  if  tfirv  had  a  little  mnnr\  which  they 
roiiiil  sppnd  as  thpv  wished! 

Now  as  to  the  cost  of  maintenance  of  the  a^ed  out- 
side of  institutions.  It  was  praitirnlly  impossihle  to 
calculate  the  co-t  of  elderh  people  livuit;  with  their  fam- 
ilies, but  I  feathered  some  data  from  people  livins 
alonr. 

Of  women  I  found  some  exist iii^  on  $\.(K)  a  week, 
and  one  or  two  spendintr  nearly  >2S.(K)  a  month.  .Miss 
M.,  No.  2<i.  in  the  chapter.  "  .Aced  People  Wholly  De- 
pendent on  Charity."  had  about  <2';.(x)  n  month  eiven 
her.  Mrs.  \V.,  No.  4S.  in  the  chapter.  "  A^ed  People 
\yho  Are  Self-Supporting',"  earned  5'>.(xi  a  week.  Mrs. 
-N.,  No.  ]\,  in  the  chapter,  "  .A^ed  People  I'artly  Self- 
Supporting'  and  Partly  Dependent  on  Charity,"  said  she 
lived  on  >4.(x)  a  week.  Mrs.  N..  No.  S4,  in  the  chapter, 
"  Aped  People  Supported  Kntirely  bv  I'heir  Families," 
said  her  son  pave  her  $,^.(n)  ,1  week,  and  she  "  got  along 
on  that,"  and  others  managed  on  this  amount.  While 
Mrs.  K.,  No.  7S.  in  this  chapter  had  really  less  than 
$,VO()  a  week. 

Two  people  living  topether  cm  pet  alonp  on  less,  but 
couples  at  present  are  seldom  supported  outside  of  in- 
stitutions, and  where  they  are  helped  a  little  and  earn 
somethinp  themselves  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  their 
biidpets.  And  elderly  women,  without  relatives,  insist 
on  livinp  alone,  as  far  as  my  experience  poes,  so  I  have 
no  datp.  at  all  exact  of  two  people  livinp  topether. 

Also  I  was  unable  to  pather  much  data  of  men  living 
alone  from  the  men  themselves,  but  some  interesting  in- 
formation  was  piven   me  at  one  of   the   Mills   Hotels. 

These  Mills  Hotels  are  not  entireh  philanthropic 
enterprises  running  at  a  financial  loss,  as  is  sometimes 
supposed,  but  pav,  according  to  the  statement  of  one  of 
the  clerks,  a  three  and  a  half  per  cent  dividend,  which,  of 
course,  is  not  much  of  a  return  on  the  capital  invested, 
but  very  far  from  a  loss.  '1  here  are  about  4.000  men  in 
the  three  Mills  Hotels,  with  i  SS4  rooms  in  the  one  I 
visited,  (^ne  of  the  clerks  there  said  that  there  were 
lots  of  men  over  sixty  livinp  there  and  working,  and 
that   their  wages   rani^ed   from   Ir^s.oo  to  $25.(X)  a  week. 


MICROCOPY    RESOLUTION    TEST    CHART 

ANSI  and   ISO   UST  CHAPT   No     2 


1.0 

li,  !    28           2.5 

11.    '                  — 
H         2.2 

I.I 

1:   n       2.0 

t-                             —   — 

1.8 

1.25 

1 

1.4 

1.6 

^     APPLIED   IM^GE     Inc 


88 


DISLIKE  OF 


m 


The  rooms  are  mostly  tvvenU-  ■  its  a  night,  and  the 
meals  arc  served  a  la  carte,  or  lablc  d  hute  at  15,  20 
or  25  cents.  Women  are  allowed  in  the  restaurant 
only.  Ihcre  are  larfre  pathcrinK  rooms  for  the  men, 
and  all  is  not  only  clean  hut  attractive  too.  Of  course 
some  men  stop  there  who  could  afford  to  po  elsewhere, 
but  such  men  arc  not  encf)u raped  to  stay. 

It  may  be  a  perfectly  impracticable  supgcstion,  but  if 
the  State  ever  pives  pensions  of  any  kind,  why  couldn't 
the  State  then  keep  such  hotels,  and  pet  back  some  of 
the  money  paid  out?  Then  the  State  would  be  saved 
the  expense  of  hupe  free  institutions  and  the  people  them- 
selves would  be  much  better  off. 

To  substantiate  some  of  these  remarks  on  the  peneral 
dread  of  institutions,  etc.,  the  follovvinp  is  quoted  from 
Alice  W.  Solenberper  in  her  book,  "  One  Thousand 
Homeless  Men."  On  pp.  124  and  125  she  says,  "  We 
found,  too,  that  it  was  much  more  difficult  to  persuade 
persons  to  be  financially  responsible  for  the  care  of  the 
old — particularly  of  old  men — than  it  was  of  the 
younp,"  and  on  pp.  126  and  127,  "  When  in  tr\ing  to 
secure  adequate  aid  for  self-respectinp  old  men  we  found 
that  there  were  neither  relatives  nor  friends  who  could 
be  interested  in  their  behalf,  and  when  because  of  breaking 
health  the  men  were  no  lonper  able  to  work,  we  in- 
variably were  confronted  with  a  problem  which  in  most 
cases  we  were  unable  to  solve  because  the  lack  of  in- 
stitutions made  it  impossible  for  us  to  offer  the  men  the 
sort  of  care  they  should  have  had.  As  before  stated,  there 
uere  a  few  men  whom  we  did  not  hesitate  to  send  out  to 
Dunninp  [the  Chicapo  almshouse],  and  who  were  quite 
willing  to  po  there,  but  of  the  twenty-five  whom  we  finally 
placed  in  the  poorhouse  at  least  sixteen  should  have  been 
cared  for  in  some  place  where  they  could  have  been  asso- 
ci.ited  with  a  better  class  of  men  and  where  they  would 
have  been  spared  the  unmciited  stipma  of  shame  which 
their  residence  in  the  poorhouse  entailed,"  and  on  pp. 
114  and  115  -he  quotes  some  entries  made  in  records  at 
the  Hureau  of  Charities. 

"  Is  tired  and  discouraged  and  says  he  is  afraid  he 
will  have  to  give  up  and  go  to  Dunning   [the  Chicago 


li-y^W^4^:^',A 


m 


INSTITUTIONS 


89 


almshouse]  soon,"  is  an  entry  on  one  record.  "  Says  he 
is  physically  well  but  mentally  weary,"   is  another. 

"  Is  having  a  hard  stru^^le.  Is  as  strong  as  ever, 
but  finds  it  increasingly  hard  to  get  work  because  he 
looks  old."  This  from  the  record  of  a  man  of  sixt>- 
who  had  lived  forty  years  in  Chicago  and  who  had  h.ad 
good  work  records  with  a  number  of  Chicago  firms. 

"  Has  had  so  little  work  this  winter  that  he  has  al- 
most starved,  but  cannot  bear  the  thought  of  the  poor- 
house." 

"  Unable  to  find  any  work.  Says  lie  is  penniless, 
friendless  and  discouraged." 

"  Has  no  work  yet,  but  says  he  would  ratlier  star\c 
than  go  to  Dunning." 

"  Such  entries  as  these  may  be  found  on  fifty  per 
cent  of  the  records  of  the  old  men  applying  to  the 
Bureau,  and  these  are  not  men  who  have  been  idle  and 
proHigate,  but  respectable  Irish,  German  or  American 
workmen,  or,  in  some  cases,  business  or  professional  men, 
many  of  whom  have  spent  all  their  lives  in  Chicago,  and 
have  contributed  their  fair  quota  to  its  prosperity  and 
wealth." 

Here  are  a  few  descriptions  of  people  taken  from  the 
hundred  in  this  investigation. 

No.  6q — Mn.  D. 

Mrs.  D.  was  born  in  Brooklyn  seventy-seven  years 
ago.  She  said  she  left  school  at  twelve  "  to  help  her 
mother."  She  never  worked  until  after  her  husband's 
death  and  then  she  became  a  domestic  nurse,  making 
sometimes  $10.00  to  $12.00  a  week.  But  four  years  ago 
she  had  to  give  up  regular  work,  as  she  had  heart 
trouble  and  wasn't  strong,  and  she  used  up  her  savings 
in  doctors'  bills,  etc.  She  never  had  children.  She  has 
a  brother  still  older,  but  he  can't  help  her.  She  lives 
alone  in  a  furnished  room,  and  is  supported  by  odd  jobs 
and  gifts.  She  does  not  wish  to  go  into  a  Home,  but 
even  if  she  did  who  would  pay  the  usual  entrance  fee, 
for  the  church  to  which  she  bejonijs  pvidentlv  can't  do 
much  for  her,  and  it  would  be  a  shame  to  send  her  to  a 
public  institution. 


90 


DISLIKE  OF 


H 


n 


Xr,,  jQ—Mrs.  McG. 

Mrs.  McG..  ov'-'r  sixty,  born  in  Fliil.iilclphia,  was  ill 
when  I  first  vi-itrd  lu-r.  She  had  a  weak  heart  and  had 
lost  one  eye.  She  told  inc  she  worked  on  passementerie 
before  her  marriage  and  after  her  husband's  death.  Some 
time  ago  she  had  a  very  serious  illness,  was  taken  to  the 
hospital  and  the  doctor  told  her  she  was  not  sick  but 
starvinjj;,  and  that  she  must  stay  at  the  hospital  for  rest 
and  nourishment.  When  she  trained  strength  she  went 
back  to  her  two  rooms,  and  someone  in  her  church  paid 
her  rent — $8.00  a  month — and  she  did  church  sewing 
for  $1.50  to  $2.00  •  week,  and  had  other  gifts  occa- 
sionally. Various  people  had  tried  to  persuade  her  to 
go  into  a  Home,  but  she  absolutely  refused  to  do  so. 
Neighbors  were  kind,  and  she  clung  to  her  home  and 
to  being  alone.  She  was  not  able  to  do  the  sewing  when 
I  first  saw  her,  but  expected  to  do  it  soon.  When  I 
saw  her  later  she  was  better  and  quite  cheerful.  She 
thought  the  person  who  gave  her  the  rent  "  very  kind," 
but  she  felt  that  she  really  earned  the  money  for  the 
sewing,  and  she  felt  independent  and  loved  her  posses- 
sions and  her  own  little  kingdom.  Later  one  of  the 
nurses  who  went  to  see  her  found  her  dead — this  thff 
nurse  had  always  prophesied  would  be  the  case.  She 
probably  died  very  suddenly  and  easily  on  account  of  her 
weak  heart,  or  the  neigh  ir  across  the  way,  who  often 
helped  her,  would  have  been  called  in.  Well,  Mrs. 
McG.  had  what  she  wished,  she  kept  her  own  home  to 
the  end! 

No.  4— Mrs.  B. 

Mrs.  B.  was  born  in  New  \'ork  seventy-two  years  ago. 
She  said  she  went  to  work  at  thirteen.  "  because  of  the 
panic."  She  has  always  made  button  holes,  at  first  as 
regular  work,  then  as  odd  jobs,  and  nuw  mostly  for  her 
church  and  two  other  societies,  all  of  which  contribute  to 
her  support.  She  lives  alone  and  is  still  in  good  physical 
condition.  She  had  the  opportunity  to  be  placed  in  one 
of  the  better-class  Homes,  one  considered  among  the 
very  best,  but  she  refused  to  go.     Some  people  consider 


INSTITUTIONS 

her    quite    unreasonable;    those    who    know 
even  the  best  Humes  sympathize  with  her! 


9« 

most    about 


No.  y^—Mrs.  K. 

Mrs.  K.'s  name  was  piven  me  hv  the  wife  of  a  pastor 
of  one  of  the  smallest  churches  '  i  (Jreenwich  Village. 
I  found  her  livmg  in  a  small  tumblcrf.nvn  vacant  house 
in  a  small  room,  with  her  things  uverflowinn  into  the 
hall  She  has  hardening  of  the  arteries.  She  said  her 
husband  was  a  clerk  and  she  never  needed  to  work,  but 
he  drank  heavily,  and  after  his  .leath,  three  years  ago 
there  was  nothmg  left  but  a  very  small  insurance  which 
lasted  only  a  short  time.  Her  sister-in-law  in  Washing- 
ton gives  her  $5.(x:)  a  month  and  sometimes  a  little  more 
which  pays  for  her  wretched  nxjm,  and  for  oil  for  a 
coal-oiI  stove,  and  her  church  and  her  friends  provide 
food  She  said  a  charitable  society  had  helped  her  for- 
merly, but  refused  at  present  to  help.  She  said  the 
society  tried  to  get  her  into  a  Home,  but  she  refused  to 
go.  1  he  society,  when  I  communicated  with  them  in- 
sisted that  her  sister  probably  helped  her  more  than'  she 
admitted,  and  that  anyway  she  should  be  forced  into  a 
Home,  as  she  was  too  sick  to  live  alone  and  had  such 
a  dirty  room  that  it  was  a  menace.  I  agreed  that  her 
room  was  dirty,  but  I  had  seen  others  just  as  dirty 
from  which  tenants  were  not  forced  to  move,  and  as  the 
woman  can't  live  long  (she  wishes  herself  to  die  soon) 
It  did  seem  as  if  food  and  an  occasional  "  cleaning-up  " 
might  be  provided  for  her  and  she  might  be  left  in  peace 


Xf 


-Mr.  a. 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  G.  live  on  Jones  Street,  and  almost 
evxry  time  I  passed  by  the  house  in  which  they  live  I  saw 
Mr.  G.  stationed  on  the  front  steps  where  he  could  watch 
all  the  numerous  activities  of  the  street,  and  always  re- 
ceived a  cheery  greeting.  He  can  hobble  around  a  little 
but  can  t  work  since  he  w.is  paraly/ed  five  years  ago! 
He  was  paralyzed  on  one  side,  and  is  hiinij  |n  .--ne  e-e 
He  was  born  in  New  \ork  Q\X\-  sixt\-  vears'ago^  and 
according  to  the  investigations  of  one  of'  the  charitable 


92 


DISLIKE  OF  INSTITUTIONS 


societies  had  a  ^ootl  record  and  received  Rood  testimonials 
from  his  employers.  He  told  mr  that  as  a  boy  he 
worked  with  a  clothing  company,  and  then  did  trucking 
and  later  was  a  butcher,  making  at  his  highest  success 
$I,000  a  year.  Then  he  was  in  a  United  States  Ap- 
praiser's store,  where  he  earned  ^yo.tx)  a  month,  and 
fin  illy  he  was  a  keeper  on  Hlackwells  Island,  where  he 
got  IjlOo.oo  to  $70.00  a  month.  When  he  could  no 
longer  work  he  had  some  savings,  but  those  are  exhausted 
now,  though  he  still  manages  to  keep  up  his  insurance 
policy  payments.  His  wife  goes  out  washing  and  clean- 
ing, but  doesn't  make  enough  to  support  both  of  them, 
and  they  refuse  emphatically  to  go  to  an  institution! 
As  he  said  to  me,  "  I  know  what  Blackwells  Island  is 
like!  "  A  brother  and  two  stepdaughters  can't  help. 
Old  employers  and  the  State  National  Guard,  to  which 
Mr.  G.  belonged,  have  been  appealed  to,  but  as  yet  not 
with  satisfactory  results.  At  present  Greenwich  House 
and  the  C.  O.  S.  help  them  a  littl\  and  a  scheme  is  on 
foot  to  raise  some  sort  of  regular  allowance  from  various 
sources. 


m 


XII 

THE  MFD  OF  PIBLIC  PROVISION  FOR 
AGED  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA 


NOW,  certainly  the  close  study  of  even  the  hun- 
dred people  in  this  investif^ntion  leads  to  the 
belief  that  there  are  old  people  unavoidably  de- 
pendent, because  they  cannot  work,  and  that  their  fami- 
lies cannot,  or  will  not,  or  oujiht  not  to  support  them, 
and  that  putting  people  into  big  institutions  is  not  a 
satisfactory  way  of  solving  the  old-age  problem, — in 
short,  that  some  other  provision  for  dependent  old  peo- 
ple should  be  made. 

This  provision  for  old  age  is  usually  made  in  Europe 
by  some  sort  of  social-insurance  or  pension  system. 

It  is  not  within  the  province  of  this  report  to  discuss: 
( I )  the  different  schemes  of  pensions  or  social  insurance 
in  any  great  detail,  or  to  point  definitely  to  which  is  the 
best  and  wisest  to  institute  in  America,  or  (2)  the  num- 
ber of  people  who  would  be  eligible  for  such  provision, 
or  (3)  the  cost  of  such  provision, — an  attempt  has  been 
made  merely  to  add  to  the  evidence  on  the  subject  of 
the  actual  need  for  provision  for  the  aged,  not  merely 
for  their  own  sakes,  but  for  the  sake  of  their  families 
and  even  for  the  sake  of  societj-. 

The  subject  of  pension  and  social-insurance  systems  is 
growing  in  importance.  One  writer  sums  up  the  kinds 
of  pension  and  insurance  systems  as  follow:  (i)  V'ol- 
untar\-  Private  Old-Age  Insurance;  {2)  Subsidized 
Voluntary-  State  Insurance  Against  Old  Age;  (3)  Com- 
pulsor\'  Old-Age  Insurance;  (4)  Non-Contributory 
Old-Age  Pensions ;  and  these  are  thoroughly  described 
in  the  books  mentioned  in  Chapter  I, 


•%m  f%rM  »  c     nr\\  1  r\^r%^e 


and  America  is  at  last  seriously  considering  the  problem. 
I.  M.  Rubinow  says  in  his  book  on  Social  Insurance  (p. 

93 


^ifj; 


■  1-^  'I  „ 


>:4j^ 


■P 


94 


NEED  OF  PIBLIC  PROVISION 


^#' 


411):  "  The  demand  tor  :m  old-aj;c  prn^ion  has  for  over 
twi-nty  \cars  lonstitutcil  a  permaiuTit  phink  in  tlic  plat- 
form of  the  Sociahst  I'arty,  but  for  the  fir-t  time  it  has 
now  become  a  living  issue,  as  is  proven  by  the  fact  that 
it  has  been  included  in  the  famous  '  confession  of  faith  ' 
and  in  the  National  and  New  \uik  State  platforms  of 
the  Profjrcssive  Party." 

And  certain  states  have  taken  preliminary  steps  in  the 
same  direction.  So  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  way  will 
be  found  by  which  provision  for  the  a^ed  can  be  made, 
adequately  and  acceptably,  and  \et  with  less  expense 
than  is  often  feared! 

To  stop  generalizing  and  to  return  to  the  scope  of 
this  particular  investij^ation,  it  was  most  surprising  to 
realize  the  ditTiculty  with  which  I  found  one  hundred 
aged  people  suitable  for  this  study  in  the  large  area  of 
Greenwich  \'illage.  Of  course,  this  is  only  a  drop  in 
the  bucket  by  way  of  evidence,  but  it  seems  to  me  a 
rather  significant  drop.  There  are  probably  not  as  many 
aged  people  needing  state  provision  as  is  often  feared. 
But  those  who  need  provision  need  it  badly.  Ihc  present 
provisions  are  not  only  pitifully  inadequate  but  exceed- 
ingly hit-or-miss — much  too  much  is  left  to  chance. 

I  hope  I  have  indicated  clearly  the  fear  of  institutions 
which  hangs  over  the  poor,  and  the  generally  merited  dis- 
like for  them.  Institutions  are  not  a  satisfactory  mode 
of  provision  for  the  aged,  and  could  never  be  made  so. 

Secondly,  although  many  churches  make  efforts  to  help 
their  aged  members  they  seldom  have  funds  enough  to 
help  very  many,  and  besides  dependent  aged  people  who 
are  church  members  form  a  very  small  group,  i.e.  mem- 
bers of  Protestant  churches;  and  Roman  Catholic 
churches  give  comparatively  little  financial  aid.  It  was 
interesting  to  see  that  the  people  really  belonging  to 
churches  and  helped  by  their  churches  seemed  on  the 
whole  more  self-respecting  than  those  helped  by  charity-, 
i.e.  charitable  societies. 

Thirdly,  the  charitable  agencies,  with  all  their  laud- 
able efforts,  are  not  able  to  cope  with  the  situation  of 
providing  adequately  for  aged  people  outside  of  insti- 
tutions.    As  one  agent  of  a  society  said  to  me:  "  We  can 


FOR  AGKD  PIXM'Li:  IN  AMI.RICA 


'>5 


raise  only  small  iiinds  for  assistiiijij  n^'rd  people  outside 
of  institutions.  The  public  is  asked  tr)  support  institu- 
tions and  naturally  expects  the  dependent  a^ed  to  be 
put  into  those  institutions."  And  not  only  do  the  chari- 
table societies  not  have  fund>  enouizh  to  provide  for  the 
ajjed,  but  their  assistance,  except  in  sharp  emergencies, 
has  unfortunately  a  deteriorating:  etifect  upon  the  recip- 
ients. I  heard  of  one  vouiij:  married  woman,  whose 
family  in  her  childhood  had  been  ref^ularly  assisted  by 
charity,  who  said,  "  Rather  than  have  my  children  sup- 
ported by  charity  I'd  kill  them  all.'  It  seems  as  if  the 
whole  attitude  of  Inr^e  charitable  societies  had  to  be, 
under  present  conditions,  much  too  hit;h-handed. 

In  a  collection  of  stories  etititled  "  .Mrs.  Mahoney  of 
the  Tenements,"  by  l^ouise  Montgomery,  there  is  a  story, 
"Case  No.  I199,"  of  a  charity  visitor  who  has  an  old 
man  rrtoved  to  a  hospital  without  his  or  his  wife's  con- 
sent. The  neighbors  take  up  a  subscription,  and  one 
young  man  goes  to  the  hospital,  and,  claiming  to  be  the 
son,  takes  the  old  man  home  to  die,  as  the  doctor  admits 
he  probably  won't  live  for  a  month.  Now  this  story 
probably  has  no  basis  in  actual  facts.  As  powerful  as  the 
charitable  scKieties  are.  they  are  not  allowed,  even  if  they 
wished,  to  remove  patients  to  hospitals  by  force — only 
the  Board  of  Health  is  allowed  to  do  that,  when  the 
patient  is  considered  a  menace  to  the  family  and  the 
neighborhood.  But  the  story  does  illustrate  a  certain 
attitude  of  charitable  societies  and  of  many  people,  rich 
or  well-to-do,  towards  the  poor,  and  this  is  the  attitude, 
in  a  blunt  form — "  If  we  help  you  even  partly  as  well 
as  wholly,  you  must  do  as  we  direct  absolutely."  Now, 
it  seems  to  me  that  this  is,  not  always  but  often,  an 
unreasonable  and  exceedingly  high-handed  attitude.  It 
is  the  attitude  of  power  towards  the  defenceless,  and  it 
seems  only  justice  that  the  •^tate  shall  guard  all  its  citi- 
zens in  such  a  way  that  they  shall  never  reach  the  point 
where  their  destinies  are  so  dominated.  And  besides, 
think  of  the  tou"n<;  rioi\  vill.n^jes  where  there  are  no  organ- 
ized charities! 

Nor  does  it  seem  that,  in  a  true  democracy,  provision 
for  citizens  of  any  class  should  be  left  to  an-ther  class 


06 


NEKD  OF  PlBr.IC  PROVISION 


n 


T^-J^ai 


to  be  ijiven  as  charity.  When  people  have  contributed 
all  their  lives  to  the  industry  of  their  state,  should  they 
be  ohlij^cd  at  the  end  of  their  days  to  depend  on  charity? 
After  stru^^linji  to  keep  their  self-respect  by  hard  work 
all  their  lives,  think  of  the  choice  al  the  end,  to  go  to 
an  institution,  or  else  to  deprive  their  families  of  the 
very  necessities  of  life! 

The  people  who  receive  I'nited  States  war  pensions 
do  not  feel  so  disgraced,  and  I  was  much  interested  in  the 
attitude  of  the  people  I  saw  one  morninfj  at  the  "  Exempt 
Firemen's  Association  "  rooms.  The  women  sitting 
waiting  for  their  pensions  looked  respectable  and  self- 
respectinp.  I  fell  into  conversation  with  one  of  them, 
and  she  explained,  "  Our  husbands  belonj;cd  to  the  volun- 
teer firemen  in  the  old  days,  you  know,  and  now  we  arc 
just  being  paid  back  dues;  it  isn't  a  charity  pension,  you 
see!"  This  idea  of  "justice"  rather  than  "charity" 
is  well  brought  out  by  F.  \V,  Lewis,  in  his  book,  "  State 
Insurance,  "  when  he  says  on  p.  150:  "  In  the  more  recent 
discussions  of  old-age  relief  we  hear  more  of  doing  jus- 
tice and  less  of  bestowing  charity.  The  preamble  to  the 
old-age  pension  act  in  New  Zealand  recites  that  it  is 
equitable  that  those  who,  in  the  prime  of  life,  helped  to 
bear  the  public  burdens  of  the  Colony  and  to  open  up  its 
resources  should  receive  pensions,  and  in  the  debate  in 
the  British  Parliament  upon  the  recent  old-age  pension 
act,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Kxchequer  said,  in  reply  to 
the  demand  for  a  contributory  plan:  'The  workman 
who  has  contributed  health,  strength,  vigor  and  skill  to 
the  building-up  of  the  wealth  of  the  nation  has  made 
his  contribution.'  " 

And  the  constructive  side  of  social  provision  for  old 
age  is  brought  out  in  the  following  quotations.  I.  M. 
Rubinow  says  in  his  book  "  Social  Insurance  '  (p.  312)  : 
"  But  the  purpose  of  a  social  policy  in  dealing  with  desti- 
tution is  not  only  to  substitute  for  private  and  public 
charity,  is  not  only  to  prevent  starvation,  not  only,  in 
short,  to  prevent  the  extreme  of  pauperism,  but  also  to 
cure  or  prevent  poverty,  to  prevent  semi-star\'ation,  to 
raise  conditions  of  life,  standards  of  life  for  the  victims 
as  well  as  for  the  working-class  as  a  whole,  by  removing 


FOR  AGKD  VKOPU:  IN  AMKRICA 


97 


the  dcpressinp  effect  upon  ua^e-;  and  the  standards  of 
livinp  which  a  lar^e  contingent  of  patiprri/ed  or  semi- 
pauperized  or  siinplv  destitute  individual-  must  neces- 
sarily exercise."  And  Henry  R.  Sea^er  sa>s  in  his  hook 
"Social  Insurance"  (p.  iiH):  "  Ttie  proper  niethoil  of 
safetzuardini;  old  age  is  clearly  throu^jh  some  plan  of 
insurance.  ( )ld  age  is  a  risk  to  which  all  are  liahle,  hut 
which  many  never  live  to  experience.  I  hus.  according 
to  American  life  tahles,  nearly  two-thirds  of  those  who 
survive  the  ajje  of  ten  die  hefore  the  age  of  seventy. 
Under  these  circumstances,  for  every  wa^e-e.irner  to 
attempt  to  save  enoujjh  hy  himself  to  provide  for  his  old 
ape  is  needlessly  costly.  The  intelligent  course  is  for 
him  to  comhine  with  other  wape-earners  to  accuiiuilate 
a  common  fund  out  of  which  old-ape  annuities  may  be 
paid  to  those  who  live  lonp  enouph  to  need  them." 

So  far  the  authors  quoted  have  been  in  favor  of  some 
system  of  social  insurance,  or  of  pensions — the  majority 
advocating  the  former.  I>et  us  now  turn  to  objections 
given  to  pensions,  and  to  some  discussions  on  voluntary 
and  compulsory  insurance. 

There  seems  to  be  rather  a  good  deal  of  fear  that  state 
pensions  would  injure  the  "  self-respect  of  the  working- 
man  "  and  "  discourage  thrift  "  and  have  a  "  disintegrat- 
ing efiect  on  families." 

In  the  American  Labor  Ligislation  Reviiti'  for  June, 
1913,  in  an  article  on  "  Old-Age  Insurance,"  F.  Spen- 
cer Baldwin,  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Commis- 
sion on  Old-Age  Pensions,  says  (p.  210):  "The  thrift 
habit  is  not  something  instinctive  and  spontaneous;  it  is 
the  race  product  of  careful  training.  It  is  extremely 
hard  to  build  up  and  ver>-  easy  to  break  down.  The  aim 
of  modern  poor  law  reform  has  been  to  cultivate  this 
habit  by  penalizing  unthrift  and  sti^rmatizing  depend- 
ency'. The  establishment  of  the  pension  system  means 
the  abandonment  of  this  approved  policT  of  conserving 
thrift,  and  reversion  to  the  discredited  methods  of  gen- 
eral outdoor  relief.  The  gravest  consequences  are  to  be 
apprehended  trom  the  new  policy.  In  general  it  must 
exert  an  enervating  and  demoralizing  influence  on  char- 
acter, lessening  the  sense  of  personal  responsibilitv',  self- 


i 


,,H 


Ml  I)  i)K   I'l  HFJf  PROVISION 


1 


rrli.iniT  .iiiil   ^rlf-rc>pci. t,  and  N.ippitii:  the  foundation'*  of 
individii.i!    mdrpcndt  lire,    initiati\c   and    risoiircrfulru'ss. 

"I"inall\.  the  cttckt  nt  non  *<intrdiutor\  pensions  on 
tlie  farnd\  nnl^t  he  set  din\n  a^  a  further  fibjcition  to 
tlic  plan.  A  not!  conti  ihutory  pension  sxstrin  weakens 
tlic  honds  ni  fam;I\  Mduiarits.  It  fakes  away  in  part 
tlie  fdial  oldi^Mtum  tor  tlir  ^upjiort  of  a^ed  parents, 
which  is  one  of  the  main  ties  tliat  hoM  tlie  fanid>  fo- 
pcther.  The  supporters  of  thi-  pension  policv  deny  that 
this  residt  wduM  follow.  Ihcs  lontend  that,  on  the 
contrarv,  their  plan  uo\dd  tren^then  the  f,inid\  ;  thev 
reason  that  tlie  payment  of  smdl  pensions  to  old  people 
would  help  to  keep  families  tnjether  In'  making  it  pos 
siblr  for  the  children  to  ri-tain  the  aued  parent  in  the 
household,  in  view  of  the  addition  that  his  pension  would 
brinj:  to  the  family  income.  W'hdc  this  mi^ht  be  true 
in  individual  cases,  it  ran  hardly  he  doubted  that  the 
general  effect  on  the  fiimily  would  be  disintejzratinjz. 
The  assumption  by  the  state  of  the  obligation  to  support 
the  afied  in  their  homes  would  undermine  filial  respon- 
sibility precisely  as  the  guarantee  of  public  maintenance 
of  children  would  destroy  parental  responsibility.  The 
impairment  of  family  intetrrity  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the 
most  serious  dancers  threatened  by  recent  experiments 
with   non-contributory   pensions." 

And  the  same  author  sa\s  in  the  American  Statistical 
Association  I'ubluatiotis  of  March.  I'jio,  in  an  article 
entitled  "  The  Findings  of  the  Massachusetts  Commis- 
sion on  Old-Ajje  Pensions  "  (p.  i8)  :  "A  non-contributory 
pension  system  is  simply  a  counsel  of  despair.  If  such 
a  scheme  be  defensible  or  excusable  in  this  country,  then 
the  whole  economic  and  social  s\steni  is  a  failure.  The 
adoption  of  such  a  policy  would  be  a  confession  of  its 
breakdown.  To  contend  that  it  is  necessary  to  take 
this  course  is  to  assume  that  the  members  of  the  working- 
class  eitlier  cannot  earn  enough  or  cannot  save  emugh 
to  take  care  of  themselves  in  old  aj^e.  'f  that  be  true, 
then  American  democracy  is  in  a  state  of  decay  which 
Hu  s\srrn"i  ui  puniic  iioics  ciniiii  jnosiuU  ariest,  Oui  wuuiii 
rather  hasten." 

Now,    it   seems    to    ine    that   the    small    benefit    given 


FOR  A(iri)  IMOIM.I     IN   AMIRILA 


00 


hy  a  pfPsiot)  at  thf  i-iwi  ot  lilf  umiltl  Marn-lv  cnl■llura^;^ 
mm  to  hv  rcikli'-s  in  rarlirr  \rars.  And  .i>  I  liavr  triftl 
to  (Iniioiistrafc  tmni  practical  in>tanirs  in  hr  chaptt-r, 
DifViiultuN  ot  Saving  tor  (  )lil  A^:(•,"  iniicli  saving  for 
old  A^v  iN  iinpos>ddf.  1  liriJt  i>  lu-fdrd  tor  \vi>f  v\- 
pciidifiircs  and  proper  living;,  and  is  Marcrlv  po^^il1lc  :ls 
prodiiitivc  ot  sa\  in^  tor  old  a^'c.  And  ><iirrl\  tamilirs 
would  not  lovt  tln'ir  a^icil  nirmbcrs  los  it  they  wcrr  not 
>iiicli  tinaruial  biirdrn^,  hut  luorr.  And  ot  course  no 
one  u<iuld  consider  that  periMoiis  are  a  remedy  for  low 
\\a^e> — the\  are  mereU  palliatives  ulule  \\  a^es  are  low. 
One  miijht  with  eipial  accuracy  say  that  ue  should  not 
have  ho^pitaK  tor  tuberculosis,  as  iv  is  a  preventable  dis- 
ease, thouuh  no  one  doubts  the  need  of  ho>pital>  till  the 
disease  is  entirelv    eradicated! 

And  there  seem-,  to  be  jire.it  fear  th.it  the  poor  will 
not   have   enouirh   opportunity    tor   seltsacrihce! 

Frederick  L.  Moffni'in  says  in  the  American  Statistical 
Association  Publications  for  March,  li><x>,  on  p.  367: 
"  A  non-contributor\  old-ace  pension  ^cheme  will  not 
solve  the  problem  of  the  dependent  poor  and  will  not 
prevent  an  increase  in  the  burden  of  real  pauperism; 
hut.  on  the  contrary,  it  will  undermine  and  t'-nd  to  de- 
stroy the  self-respecting  char.icter  of  our  people  as 
citi/ens  in  a  democracy  where  economic  imlependcnce, 
achieved  In'  indi\idual  effort,  self  sacrifice,  and  self- 
denial,  is.  after  all,  the  onl\   aim  and  end  worth  while." 

Surely  the  poor  when  known  individually  have  plenty 
of  exercise  for  the^e  virtues  of  self-denial ;  it  could  not 
harm  them  to  remove  a  few  of  Jieir  ditTiculties.  My 
own  appreciation  of  the  futility  of  these  arguments  found 
confirination  in  the  comments  on  them  by  1.  M.  Rubi- 
now  in  his  book  so  often  referred  to.  "  Social  Insurance." 
On  pp.  U4  and  ^is  He  gives  first  a  ouotation  from  the 
report  of  the  Massachusetts  C'oir.mission  on  Old-.Agc 
Pensions: 

"'The  disintcgrnt'i^a  rfJrrt  on  the  farnilw  A  non- 
contributory  system  would  take  away,  in  part,  the  filial 
obligation  for  the  support  of  aged  parents  which  is  the 
main  bond  of  family  solidarity.  It  would  strike  at  one 
of  the  forces  that  have  created  the  self-supporting,  self- 


■^::^^m^mm^mmiMt^miM^ 


lOO 


NFKD  OF  PIRLIC  PROVISION 


respectinp;  American  faniilv.     The  impairment  of  family 
solidarity   i>  one  of   tlie  umm  serious  conseijuences  to  be 
apprelieiuied."  "     And   tlicn   he  sa\s:   "There  is  a  pood, 
old-fashioned   atavistic   noiiility   of   sentiment   about    this 
argument   which   will   greatly   please   all    pood   men   and 
UDiiien  except  tho^e  who  have  to  he  supported  by  their 
children,  and  those  who  have  to  support  their  parents  and 
also  their  own  families  on  a  w  at:e-earner's  budget.  ...  It 
further  seems  to  assume  that  we  love  our  burdens  and 
that  when  parents  cea^^e  beinp  burdens  the  children  cease 
lovinp  them.      It  assumes  that  the  standing  of  a  super- 
annuated parent  in  a  family  is  in  an  inverse  pronortion 
to  the  amount  he  is  able  to  contrii)ute  to  the  familv  bud- 
pet.     It  is  an  appe.il  to  an  ideal  of  a  patriarchal  familv 
which   has  been   dead   for  a  century   in   every   industrial 
coimtry,    and   which    rea''  ■    never   had    any   stronp   hold 
upon  American  life.     Of  course,  its  irapplicability  to  the 
aped  sinple  man  or  the  aped  spinster  aunt  will  be  evi- 
dent.     For  it  certainly  cannot  be  claimed  that  the  sup- 
port of  all  spinster  aunt^    .  alsf)  a  fundamental  principle 
of  American  solidarity.      Then  apain,  even  married  peo- 
ple   may    not    have    .my    children,    or    may    have    lost 
them.  .   .   ."     And  he  says  much  more  of  interest  on  this 
subject,   not  in  praise  of  a  pension  system,   but  to  prove 
that  these  particular  arpuments  apainst  pensions  are  not 
valid  and   to  urpe  the  need  of  some  sort  of  social  pro- 
vision. 

Another  question  is  broupht  up  in  these  articles — the 
difference  between  pensions  piven  to  civil  employees  and 
war  veterans  and  to  workinpmen  in  peneral.  In  his 
article,  "  State  Pensions  and  Annuities  in  Old  Ape,"  in 
the  American  Statistical  Association  Publications  for 
March,  iqoo,  Frederick  L.  Hoffman  s.iys  on  pp.  368 
and  360:  "  The  arpument  is  adv.inced  that  such  pensions 
are  really  not  fundamentally  different  from  the  pensions 
paid  to  soldiers  and  sailors  for  service  rendered  the  nation 
in  times  of  pc.icc  or  war.  or  to  civil  service  employees  of 
all  kinds,  who  are  retired  on  attaininp  a  piven  ape;  for 
it  is  said,  if  the  state  considers  it  just  to  pension  our 
fiphters.  why  should  sli?  not  also  pen-ion  workers?  .  . 
The  case  is  very  different  with  men  who  have  followed 


?^ 


MiMf 


FOR  AGED  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA      loi 

their  own  ends  and  served  their  own  purposes,  who  have 
made  their  strupiile  for  success  and  who,  because  of  mis- 
applied enerp>-  or  misapplied  talent  or  because  most 
likely  of  misspent  years,  are  dependent  upf)n  charity  in 
their  old  age.  The  more  than  thirty  millions  of  men 
and  women  employed  in  the  industries  of  this  countr  • 
are  not  workinji  for  the  state  or  for  the  nation,  but  they 
are  working  for  themselves,  and  they  have  unrestrained 
control  over  the  expenditures  of  their  incomes,  and,  to 
that  extent,  they  have  their  future  fate  in  their  hands. 
Thtse  are  the  workers  of  the  nation,  but  not  the  workers 
for  the  nation,  and  the  ditterence  is  fundamental,  and 
ought  never  to  be  lost  sight  of  in  discusNions  of  this 
kind.'; 

Isn't  this  rather  more  theoretic  than  actual,  all  this 
about  "  misspent  years  "  and  "  unrestrained  control  over 
expenditures  " — and  how  can  soldiers  be  considered  such 
unselfish  laborers  for  the  nation? — they  surely  are  quite 
as  self-seeking  as  f.actory  workers,  for  example. 

Besides,  if  pensions  are  so  fearfully  demoralizing,  why 
are  private  pension  systems  so  lauded?  In  an  article 
entitled  "  The  Work  of  the  Massachusetts  Commission 
on  Old-Age  Pensions,"  in  the  American  Statistical  Asso- 
ciation Publications  for  March.  190).  F.  Spencer  Bald- 
win says,  on  p.  42O.  referring  to  private  pension  schemes: 
"The  general  nature  of  the  leading  schemes  is  substan- 
tially the  same.  Provision  is  made  for  the  voluntary  or 
compulsory  retirement  of  employees  at  a  certain  age.  with 
weekly  or  monthly  allowances.  The  amount  of  the  al- 
lowance is  determined  by  the  length  of  service  and  the 
wages  of  the  employee.  It  is  usually  calculated  on  a 
basis  of  a  percentage  of  the  average  wages  for  each  year 
of  service.  The  expenses  of  the  pension  system  are  com- 
monly borne  by  the  employer  without  contribution  from 
the  employee.  Often  the  pension  system  is  combined 
with  provision  for  sickness  and  accident  insurance  or- 
ganized on  a  contributory  basis.  The  motives  that  have 
induced  large  corporate  employers  to  provide  retirement 
pensions  are  partly  economic  and  partly  humanitarian  or 
philanthropic.  Economic  motives  play  the  leading  part. 
This  thing  has  been  done  because  it  has  been  found  to 


==ar  -'---^^-'•^W'.i 


'  -ja^LSI^tP^ 


;y -•*^3^;- >5r?gK:!^ 


s 


I02 


NKF.D  OF  Pl'BLIC  PROVISION 


be  pood  business  policy.  The  economic  pain  from  the 
pension  sv>fem  is  twotohl:  it  eliminates  tlie  waste  and 
demoralization  attendant  upon  the  continued  employ- 
ment of  old  men  uho  have  outlived  their  \isefulness,  .;nd 
it  helps  to  promote  industry,  contentment,  and  loyalt\ 
on  the  part  of  the  working  force.  The  pension  system 
aids  in  solving  the  difficult  problem  of  stimulating!  the 
employees  of  a  large  corporation  to  the  highest  efficiency," 
etc. 

Why  are  public  pensions  so  much  more  harmful  than 
pen'iions  given  by  corporations? 

Having  given  these  arguments  for  and  against  the 
pension  system,  it  seems  only  fair  to  give  a  few  argu- 
ments for  and  against  insurance  schemes. 

In  an  article  by  F.  Spencer  Baldwin,  "  Old-Age  In- 
surance," in  the  .hnerican  Labor  LcqUlation  Rcvicic  of 
June.  1913.  he  says,  on  p.  2()f>,  speaking  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts savings-bank  insurance  system:  "The  weakness 
of  the  plan  is  the  fundamental  failing  of  all  voluntary 
insurance  svstems,  it  fails  to  reach  the  ma>s  of  the  work- 
ing population,  especially  the  cla.^s  of  low-paid  laborers 
most  in  need  of  some  provision  for  old  age.  As  Professor 
Schaeffler  has  well  said :  '  Fxperience  h.as  everywhere 
demonstrated  that  the  great  mass  of  those  workingmen 
who  are  poorly  off  will  not  voluntarily  insure  themselves. 
F'urthermore,  the  great  majority  of  those  who  wo\ild 
like  to  do  so  cannot  on  accoimt  of  the  smallness  of  their 
earnings.  In  other  words,  it  is  exactly  that  class  which 
is  most  in  need  of  insurance  that  either  will  not  or  can- 
not avail  themselves  of  this  device.'  The  statistics  of  the 
savings-bank  insurance  in  Massachusetts  show  that  very- 
little  use  has  been  made  of  the  provisions  for  the  pur- 
chase of  annuities."  A  most  interesting  article  on  the 
Massachusetts  Savings-Bank  Insurance  and  Pen'^ion 
System  is  that  by  I^uis  I).  Rr:  ndeis  in  the  American 
Statistical  .'Xs^ociation  Publications  for  March,   1909. 

From  mv  own  little  experience  also  I  can  see  that  very 
few  are  able  to  pay  for  voluntary  insurance.  When- 
ever possible,  the  poor  keep  up  their  "  burial  insurance," 
as  fear  of  a  pauper's  grave  is  one  of  their  most  pressing 
and   terrifying  anxieties,   but  often   they  arc  unable   to 


mm" 


FOR  AGED  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA      103 

keep   up   even    the   small   payments   demanded    for   that 
insurance. 

To  be  sure,  in  late  years  the  whole  svstcm  of  private 
insurance  has  improved  jrreatly.  and  it  mi^ht  be  improved 
still  more,  so  that  life  insurance  would  cost  the  poor 
less  and  give  them  greater  benelits.  Hut  no  s\stfm  of 
private  life  insurance  or  the  payment  of  annuities  could 
ever  solve  the  problem  of  providing  adequately  for  old 
age,  for  it  would  provide  only  for  the  better-paid  class 
of  working-people,  not  for  those  who  need  such  provision 
most. 

Now,  if  the  very  poor  can't  pay  for  volimtarv  in- 
surance, how  could  they  pay  for  compulsory  insurance, 
even  if  that  insurance  were  contributed  to  by  the  state 
and  by  employers  also?  On  p.  19  of  the  American 
Statistical  Association  Publications  for  March,  IQ'O,  F. 
Spencer  Baldwin  says  in  the  article  before  referred  to 
on  "  The  Findings  of  the  Massachusetts  Commission  on 
Old-Age  Pensions":  "It  may  be  that  eventually  the 
state  will  undertake  to  enforce  this  obligat-on  upon  the 
individual  by  law.  The  state  may,  in  the  interest  of 
all,  say  to  the  individual:  '  \'ou  shall  provide  for  your 
old  age  through  saving  made  easy  by  a  system  of  in- 
surance established  by  government,  in  order  that  the  gen- 
eral welfare  may  not  be  disturbed  by  your  coming  to  the 
state  for  support  in  your  old  age.'  The  principle  of 
compulsory  educ.ition  has  been  adopted  and  widely  ex- 
tended. The  principle  of  compulsory  sanitation  has  been 
applied  in  various  directions.  The  principle  of  com- 
pulsory insurance  might  be  defended  as  a  needful  meas- 
ure of  further  state  interference  for  the  protection  of 
society  against  the  burden  of  old-age  pauperism,  precisely 
as  compulsory  education  and  compulsory  sanitation  have 
been  instituted  to  protect  society  against  ignorance  and 
disease.  A  svstcm  of  state  insurance  thus  grounded, 
however,  would  be  based  on  the  principle  of  enforced 
obligation  on  the  part  of  the  individual  to  insure  himself 
and  not  on  that  of  recognized  duty  on  the  part  of  the 
state  to  pension  all  worthy  citizens.  The  British  and 
Australian  pension  systems  are  based  on  the  latter  prin- 
ciple, involving  the  doctrine  that  a  citizen  may  claim  a 


104 


NF.FD  OF  PUHLIC  PROVISION 


pension  from  the  state  .t;  a  civil  li^ht.  That  doctrine 
is  (li-.tinctlv  un-American.  The  (»ppositc  principle  of 
olili^atory  insurance,  as  here  interpreted,  is  the  only  one 
that  could  possihly  he  harmonized  with  American  condi- 
tion^, traditions  and  ideals." 

Now  it  seems  to  me  that  compid-ory  education  and 
sanitation,  and  compulsory  insurance  arc  scarcely  paral- 
lels, for  the  hurden  of  tlieir  payment  falls  very  dif- 
ferently. And  al>o  it  seems  to  me  that  however  ' 
dividualistic  our  early  American  methods  may  have  bet  ., 
we  are  at  List  workintj  out  ideas  o  more  co-operative 
respon^ihility.  As  Henry  R.  Sealer  says  in  his  book 
"Social  Insurance"  (p.  lo)  :  "The  failure  of  wage- 
earners  to  provide,  each  for  himself,  ajzainst  the  con- 
tingencies that  I  have  specified — accidents,  illness,  pre- 
mature death,  unemployment  and  old  age — is  to  my  mind 
merely  proof  that  collective  remedies  must  be  found  and 
applied  to  these  evils." 

So  far  no  one  system  of  provision  for  old  age  seems 
entirely  satisfactory;  all  pension  systems  and  all  insur- 
ance s\stems  siTui  to  fail  in  some  respects.  But  perhaps 
some  combination  or  modification  of  these  systems  will  be 
discovered.  It  scarcely  seems  to  m.e  that  the  workers 
could  contribute  much  money  towards  any  system  them- 
selves, but  perhaps  those  receiving  over  a  certain  wage 
mifiht,  and  perhaps  not  only  all  manufacturers  but  all 
emidoyers  migiit  contribute,  and  the  state  might  levy 
some  tax  for  the  fund,  and  then  pensions  could  be  graded 
as  to  amounts  given,  with  certain  qualitications  (as  was 
first  proposed  in  Kngland),  and  this  might  be  adminis- 
tered with  less  cost  than  some  writers  fear,  through  post 
offices  or  banks  or  municipal  employment  bureaus,  or 
even  municipal  co-operative  workshops!  Surely  some 
provision  for  the  aged  ought  to  be  made  and  will  be 
made  in  time. 

The  general  situation  is  well  summed  up  by  I.  M. 
Rubinow  in  his  "Social  Insurance"  (pp.  42  and  43): 
"  To  sum  up:  (  1 )  From  two-thinis  to  three-fourths  of  all 
productive  workers  in  the  United  States  depend  upon 
wages  or  small  salaries  for  their  existence.  (2)  From 
four-fifths    to   nine-tenths   of    the    wage-woikers    receive 


FOR  AGED  PFOPLF.  IN  AMFRICA       105 

wages  which  arc  insufficient  to  meet  the  cost  of  a  nor- 
mal standard  uf  health  and  efficiency  tor  a  faniih.  and 
about  one-half  receive  very  much  leNS  than  th;it.  (3) 
If  a  certain  proportion  of  wage-workers'  families  succeed 
in  attaining  such  a  standard,  it  is  niade  povNiblc  only  by 
the  presence  of  more  than  one  worker  in  ttie  family. 
(4)  This  condition,  however,  can  only  be  temporary  in 
the  history  of  any  workingman's  family,  (s)  Fhe  in- 
crease in  the  standard  of  nages  is  barely  sufficient  to 
meet  the  increased  cost  of  living.  (0)  An  annual  sur- 
plus in  the  workingman's  buduet  is  a  very  rare  thing, 
and  is  very  small.  {7)  1  he  growth  of  savings-bank  de- 
posits in  the  United  States  is  not  sufficient  evidence  of 
the  ability  of  the  American  workintzmen  to  make  sub- 
stantial savings.  A  large  proportion  of  these  savings 
belong  to  other  classes  of  population,  and  in  so  far  as 
information  is  available  the  average  workingman's  de- 
posit is  very  small.  (8)  The  analysis  of  the  economic 
status  of  the  American  wage-worker  does  not  disclose 
his  ability  to  cope  with  the  various  economic  emergencies 
without  outside  .assistance." 

Formerly  people  thought  that  the  working-people  in 
America  were  as  a  whole  so  much  better  o^f  than  the 
working-people  abroad  that  no  special  provision  need  be 
made  for  the  aged  in  America.  These  optimistic  beliefs, 
however,  have  been  somewhat  shattered. 

But  to  return  to  the  evidence  in  this  particular  investi- 
gation. Surely  some  of  the  cases  described  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapters  point  to  the  fact  that  many  onl  people 
sul?er  greatly,  mentally  and  phy-ically,  and  that  no  exist- 
ing provisions  fit  their  needs.  Only  those  who  really 
know  and  respect  the  hard-working,  independent  poor 
realize  their  struggles,  their  sensitiveness  and  their  hero- 
ism against  overwhelming  odds. 

Should  we  not  encourage  wage-earners  to  keep  up  their 
standards  of  living  throughout  their  lives,  and  when 
their  wage-earning  power  is  over,  if  it  is  necessary  for 
their  sakes  and  for  the  sake  of  their  families  to  help, 
shall  we  not  provide  them  with  the  opportunity  to  live 
with  independence  and  self-respect  in  their  old  age? 


■s^mt^K 


